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Postembryonic development of Nymphon australe Hodgson, 1902 (Pycnogonida, Nymphonidae) from Antarctica

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Abstract

Developmental modes in pycnogonids are variable, even between congeneric species. Most of our previous knowledge of pycnogonid life history stages is based on morphological descriptions of the larval and those postlarval instars still retained on male ovigers, whereas the free-living instars are largely unknown. In this paper, a combination of morphological and molecular tools is used in order to link those postlarval instars retained on male ovigers to free-living specimens representing putatively later stages in the postembryonic development of a sea spider species. Male specimens of Nymphon australe carrying postembryonic instars were collected from localities off the South Shetland Islands, the Weddell Sea, the Drake Passage, the Bransfield Strait, and the Ross Sea. Three subsequent free-living instars were collected from Drake Passage. Nymphon australe hatch as a postlarval instar with two-articled palps and limb buds of the two first-walking legs. Postlarval instars 1 and 2 (both carried on the ovigers of males), postlarval instars 3 and 4, and a juvenile (all three free living) are all described and illustrated. A molecular phylogenetic based on the cox1 gene links all free-living stages to N. australe populations from the Antarctic Peninsula. The postlarval development of N. australe is discussed here and compared with those known from other pycnogonid species with similar development pathways.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the officers and crew and many colleagues for their help on board during the cruise VLT-2004 (Italica, XIX Spedizione), Polarstern ANT-XXIII/8, and Polarstern ANT-XXIX/3. We take this opportunity to extend our thanks to the cruise leader and steering committee of these cruises, especially Riccardo Cattaneo (Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy) and Maria Chiara Chiantore (Università degli Studi di Genova, Genoa, Italy), Julian Gutt (Alfred Wegener Institut, Bremerhaven), and Enrique Isla (Instituto de Ciencias del Mar, CSIC, Barcelona), who kindly facilitated the work on board and provided the opportunity to collaborate in these Antarctic programmes. Support for this work was provided by projects CGL2004-20062-E (VTL-2004) and POL2006-06399/CGL (CLIMANT) funded by the Spanish CICYT and by the Project CTM2012-39350-C02-01 (ECOWED) funded by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (Plan Nacional de I + D + i 2008–2011). Sequencing was supported by US National Science Foundation (NSF) Grant No. IOS-1552610 to PPS. Mr. Tony Krupa is thanked for reviewing the English version.

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  1. Biodiversidad y Ecología Acuática, Departamento de Zoología, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Sevilla, Avda. Reina Mercedes 6, 41012, Sevilla, Spain

    Esperanza Cano-Sánchez & Pablo J. López-González

  2. Department of Integrative Biology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 352 Birge Hall, 430 Lincoln Drive, Madison, WI, 53706, USA

    Prashant P. Sharma

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  1. Esperanza Cano-Sánchez
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  2. Prashant P. Sharma
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Correspondence to Esperanza Cano-Sánchez.

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Cano-Sánchez, E., Sharma, P.P. & López-González, P.J. Postembryonic development of Nymphon australe Hodgson, 1902 (Pycnogonida, Nymphonidae) from Antarctica. Polar Biol 43, 207–223 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-020-02624-3

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