Corresponding author: Rudá Amorim Lucena (
Academic editor: Pavel Stoev
Five species were identified in the studied collection:
Zoological collections contain a practically inexhaustible amount of information. In Brazil, there are about 26 million deposited specimens (
Class
Nonetheless, most Brazilian collections remain little explored (
The material is deposited in the Museum of Natural Science (Museu de Ciências Naturais do Rio Grande do Sul –
Map with the distribution of species present in the Museum of Natural Sciences of Rio Grande do Sul. Legend: black circle,
Identification of the specimens followed
(FZB.Pyc–001) 31 specimens, Fernando de Noronha, Pernambuco, Brazil, Dec 21, 1978; (FZB.Pyc–007) 5 specimens, Perequê, Nov 2, 1972.
Brazil: São Paulo and Paraíba (
Shallow waters.
The species is recorded herein for the first time for the Archipelago of Fernando de Noronha, expanding its known distribution in north-eastern Brazil. All 31 specimens obtained from Fernando de Noronha were found associated with the epibiont hydrozoan
The hydrozoans occurred on both the dorsal and ventral surfaces of the trunk (mainly near the dorsal tubercles and the lateral processes), on eggs and ovigers and more densely on the legs (Fig.
(FZB.Pyc–002) 1 female, South Atlantic, July 8, 1964; (FZB.Pyc–004) 5 females, off Mar del Plata, Argentina (
Circumpolar. Antarctic, Western South America and up to Buenos Aires (Argentina), South Africa, Madagascar, New Zealand, Eastern South America (
7 to 4900 m in depth.
Molecular studies confirm that a complex of species exists under the name
Specimens analysed thus should belong to
(FZB.Pyc–003) 2 females, Garopaba, Santa Catarina, Brazil, 24 June 1975.
Scotia Sea, King George Island, Brazil: Santa Catarina, Rio de Janeiro and Espírito Santo. Brazil to USA (Georgia); Panama (Pacific) (
Up to 430 m.
(FZB.Pyc–008) 1 female, St. 4512,
Antarctic (Ross Sea, Weddell Sea) to southern Argentina (up to approximately 37°15'S), southeast Pacific (Strait of Magellan up to 33°S) (
15–720 m (
Literature records large morphological variations for this species (
Recent studies, based mainly on molecular data, have indicated the existence of cryptic species under the name
The specimen analysed herein comes from northern Argentina, close to the northern range of the species (
Great morphological variation has been reported for several species from polar, temperate and tropical regions, where the genus is quite diverse (
The studied collection further includes one specimen of
A survey of
We would like to thank Dr. Ricardo Ott, coordinator of the Arachnid section of the Museum of Natural Science, for providing the material in the collection for study. We are also grateful to Prof. Dr. Miodeli Nogueira Junior for the identification of hydrozoans and to the anonymous referees for their critical reviews, corrections and suggestions regarding the manuscript.