Anoplodactylus pectinus Hedgpeth, 1948

Anoplodactylus pectinus Hedgpeth View in CoL

Anoplodactylus pectinus Hedgpeth, 1948: 234-236 View in CoL , fig. 34.

Material. Adult ♀ (ZSM-A- 20071607); Piedra del ahogado in Playa Cristal (Playa del muerto), Nenguangue, Nationalpark Tayrona, Santa Marta; from stone in coral rubble, 20 m, 13.10.2004.

Description ( Fig. 16 View Fig )

Living animal sand-coloured. Body slender ( Fig. 16A,B View Fig ). Trunk segments 1-3 separated by well visible borders ( Fig. 16B View Fig ). Segments 3 and 4 fused. Lateral projections of thorax smooth, deprived of additional structures ( Fig. 16B View Fig ). Legs thin, become thinner distally ( Fig. 16A,F View Fig ).

Eye tubercle of cylindrical shape, distally flattened. Two lateral sense organs on its distolateral sides. Apical sense organ absent ( Fig. 16E View Fig ). Eye pigmentation the strongest in the upper eye parts. Abdomen 3× as long as eye tubercle, directed upwards. 2 spines close to anus.

Chelifores with 2 articles ( Fig. 16C,D View Fig ). 1 st of these 2× as long as chelae. Both fingers of chelae slender, strongly curved, and equipped with small pointed teeth on inner sides ( Fig. 16D View Fig ). Some spines on outer sides of fingers.

Palps absent as is characteristic of this genus. Ovigera only in males, made of 6 articles.

Lateral projections very slender, of the same length as coxa 1 ( Fig. 16B View Fig ). The latter only slightly longer than wide. Coxa 2 1.5× as long as coxa 1 ( Fig. 16F View Fig ). Ventrodistally with median genital porus in the form of a small thickening. Coxa 3 of same length as coxa 1. Femur 4× as long as coxa 3. Femur more robust than other leg articles, with distal protrusion equipped with long slender spine ( Fig. 16F View Fig ). Tibiae of equal length. As with femur, a distal thin spine is inserted on tibia 1. Similar spine at} of the length of tibia 2. Tarsus as long as wide, with several ventral bristles and small spine ( Fig. 16G View Fig ). Propodus 4× as long as wide. Heel with 2 spines ( Fig. 16G,H View Fig ). Anterior spine comb-shaped and stronger than posterior spine ( Fig. 16H,I View Fig )). Sole made of numerous small, slightly curved spines ( Fig. 16H View Fig ). Main claw not very robust, deprived of accessory claws ( Fig. 16G View Fig ).

Remarks. Anoplodactylus pectinus is a slender species that can be unequivocally determined using the comb-shaped spine on the heel ( Child 1979). It seems closely related to the A. tenuicorpus -complex (Arango & Krapp 2007, Bartolino & Krapp 2007) from the Indo-Pacific. The species in this complex are much more slender and delicate than A. pectinus , do not have a heel and are also characterized by the multiple cup or pore shaped cement glands; A. pectinus has a single cribriform cement gland.

A. pectinus is distributed in the Atlantic Ocean from Mexiko to Panama ( Child 1979) and from Madagascar and Batan Island in the Pacific (Child 1988). The first record from Colombia is that of Müller (1990 & in press), who found it at depths between 1 and 5 m , while the specimen studied here are from 20 m.