Pycnogonidae
Pycnogonum littorale
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Chelicerata
Class: Pycnogonida
Order: Pantopoda
Family: Pycnogonidae
Wilson, 1878 [1]
Genera

See text

Pycnogonidae is a family of sea spiders.

Characteristics

Most sea spiders in the class Pycnogonida have appendages on the anterior end of the body called chelifores which are used for gathering food and palps which bear sensory organs. Members of the family Pycnogonidae have neither of these, instead using their proboscis to suck juices from their prey. On the first segment of the trunk of male family members there are ovigerous legs on which the larvae are carried. The females do not have these appendages.[2] Like most sea spiders, species in this family have four pairs of legs, except for three species (Pentapycnon bouvieri, P. charcoti, and P. geayi) with five pairs.[3][4][5]

Genera

The World Register of Marine Species lists the following genera:[1]

References

  1. ^ a b Pycnogonidae World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 2011-11-22.
  2. ^ Family Pycnogonidae Marine Species Identification Portal. Retrieved 2011-11-22.
  3. ^ Bezerra, Luis; Rabay, Soraya; Matthews-Cascon, Helena (2017-04-24). "First record of Pentapycnon geayi Bouvier, 1911 (Pycnogonida: Pycnogonidae) in the state of Ceará, northeastern Brazil". Check List. 13 (2): 2099. doi:10.15560/13.2.2099. ISSN 1809-127X.
  4. ^ Hedgpeth, Joel W. (1947). "On the evolutionary significance of the Pycnogonida". Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections. 106 (18): 1–53. hdl:10088/22801 – via Smithsonian Research Online.
  5. ^ Soler-Membrives, Anna; Munilla, Tomás; Arango, Claudia P.; Griffiths, Huw (2014). "Southern Ocean biogeographic patterns in Pycnogonida" (PDF). Biogeographic Atlas of the Southern Ocean. ch. 5.14. Cambridge: Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research: 138–141. ISBN 978-0-948277-28-3.
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