Pycnogonida (Arthropoda) from Uruguayan waters (Southwest Atlantic): annotated checklist and biogeographic considerations
Author
Scarabino, Fabrizio
Author
Lucena, Rudá Amorim
Author
Munilla, Tomás
Author
Soler-Membrives, Anna
Author
Ortega, Leonardo
Author
Schwindt, Evangelina
Author
López, Guzmán
Author
María, José
Author
Christoffersen, Martin Lidsey
text
Zootaxa
2019
2019-01-24
4550
2
185
200
journal article
27492
10.11646/zootaxa.4550.2.2
2c967830-701d-424c-a044-d61885a8c2c5
1175-5326
2625249
AB41359C-FDBB-483C-B538-BD8D51F42FA2
Pycnogonum cessaci
Bouvier, 1911
Distribution:
East Pacific (
Panama
); West Atlantic (
Uruguay
;
Brazil
; Antilles;
Venezuela
;
Colombia
;
Panama
; SE coast of
USA
); East Atlantic (tropical coast of Africa,
Cape Verde
Is.) (
Stock 1975
,
1990
,
1992
;
Child 1979
;
Carranza
et al
. 2007a
;
Müller & Krapp 2009
).
Uruguayan records:
Carranza
et al
. (2007a
, as
P. pamphorum
): littoral.
Remarks:
Pycnogonum pamphorum
Marcus, 1940
and
P. leticiae
Mello-Leitão, 1945
are junior synonyms of
P. cessaci
,
according to
Stock (1975
,
1992
) and
Child (1979)
.
P. cessaci
has an amphi-Atlantic distribution (east and west) in the tropics and subtropics (
Stock 1990
,
Müller & Krapp 2009
) and in the Pacific coast of
Panama
(
Child 1979
). It is also found in shallow waters among algae, hydroids, bryozoans and sponges, which are organisms commonly found in fouling communities in shallow-water marine systems. These communities are particularly composed by species that occur in different oceans which are commonly transported through different human commercial activities, such as shipping and aquaculture. There is no obvious natural dispersal mechanisms to explain the amphi-Atlantic distribution of
P. cessaci
.
Its presence in fouling communities and its biogeographical history, which does not permit us to ascribed it as being native or exotic, lead us to suspect is that this represents a cryptogenic species (following definition by
Carlton 1996
,
2009
).