Pycnogonida of the Antipodes Islands*

Abstract

Abstract Pycnogonida collected at the Antipodes Islands (49° 45’ S, 178° 45’ E) by the University of Canterbury Antipodes Islands Expedition 1969 and during New Zealand Oceanographic Institute cruises are reported on here, and constitute all material known for this group of animals from these islands. To date eight species are known; two are endemic, (Pallenopsis antipoda n.sp. and Ammothea antipodensis n.sp.); two constitute a circum‐polar element (Tanystylum cayi‐dorsum Stock and Austrodecus breviceps Gordon); the remaining four species are known also from New Zealand mainland waters (Pallenopsis obliqua (Thomson), P. kupei n.sp., Achelia dohrni (Thomson) and Ammothea magniceps Thomson), as is T. cavidorsum . An attempt is made to indicate the range of variation in Achelia dohrni , and Pallenopsis mauii Clark, 1958 is redescribed although not a part of the Antipodes Islands fauna.