A collection of sea spiders (Pycnogonida: Pantopoda) in the National Museum, Prague (Czech Republic)

Abstract

The arachnological collection of the National Museum, Prague contains material preserved in ethanol and a microscopic slide of Recent sea spiders (Pycnogonida: Pantopoda). The collection is small, containing only twelve specimens. A revision of all of them revealed the presence of nine species from five families: Anoplodactylus lentus Wilson, 1878, Boreonymphon abyssorum (Norman, 1873), Callipallene sp., Endeis spinosa (Montagu, 1808), Nymphon grossipes (Fabricius, 1780), Nymphon hirtipes Bell, 1853, Nymphon stroemi Krøyer, 1844, Nymphon tenellum (Sars, 1888) and Pycnogonum litorale (Ström, 1762). The material preserved in ethanol was collected in the North Atlantic Ocean and adjacent seas, the pycnogonid mounted on the slide was collected in Mediterranean. Four of the sea spiders came from the Sars collection (Bergen, Norway) and four specimens came from the V. Frič collection (Prague, Czech Republic). From these two sources, six specimens were mounted for exhibition and educational purposes. Although the collection contains no types, it introduces an interesting group of marine animals.

Keywords

• Callipallenidae
• Endeidae
• Frič
• Nymphonidae
• Phoxichilidae
• Pycnogonidae
• Sars
• zoological collection