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The list of sea spiders of South Africa is a list of species that form a part of the pycnogonid (Class Pycnogonida) fauna of South Africa. The list follows the SANBI listing on iNaturalist, and does not always agree with WoRMS for distribution.
Sea spiders are marine arthropods of the order Pantopoda (lit. ‘all feet’), belonging to the class Pycnogonida, hence they are also called pycnogonids (/pɪkˈnɒɡənədz/; named after Pycnogonum, the type genus; with the suffix -id). They are cosmopolitan, found in oceans around the world. The over 1,300 known species have leg spans ranging from 1 mm (0.04 in) to over 70 cm (2.3 ft). Most are toward the smaller end of this range in relatively shallow depths; however, they can grow to be quite large in Antarctic and deep waters.
Although "sea spiders" are not true spiders, nor even arachnids, their traditional classification as chelicerates would place them closer to true spiders than to other well-known arthropod groups, such as insects or crustaceans, if correct. This is disputed, however, as genetic evidence suggests they may be a sister group to all other living arthropods. (Full article...)
