A new species of Pantopipetta (Pycnogonida: Austrodecidae) from the North Pacific, with a note on the palp articulation

Abstract

We describe a new pycnogonid species, Pantopipetta lenis sp. nov., collected from 141–152 m depth in southern Japan, North Pacific Ocean. Pantopipetta lenis closely resembles Pantopipetta auxiliata and Pantopipetta oculata in having auxiliary claws on the legs, but differs from them in lacking dorsodistal tubercles on the lateral processes, having the first short distal article of palp shorter than combined length of the other three short distal articles, having one slight dorsal tubercle on the coxa 1 of legs, having a short dorsal tubercle on the coxa 3 of legs, and lacking a long dorsodistal tubercle on the femur of legs. The palp base (the short article-like structure proximal to the longest palp article) in P. lenis is articulated with the cephalon, i.e. it is actually an article. Although the palp base has been regarded as a lateral process of the cephalon, it is the first article of the palp in P. lenis. http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:38D72924-6B93-4717-B4EB-FA00DD20A740.