Nymphonidae Explained

Nymphonidae is a family of sea spiders which has representatives in all the oceans. This family contains some 250 species, most of which are found in the genus Nymphon. Nymphonid bodies are between 1 and 15 mm long, the extent between the points of the legs reaching 150 mm.^[1] Most species are predators of hydroids. Like most sea spiders, species in this family have four pairs of legs, except for Pentanymphon antarcticum, which has five pairs,^{[2] [3]} and Sexanymphon mirabilis, which has six pairs.^{[4] [5]}

Taxonomy

Seven genera are currently recognized:^[6]

• Boreonymphon Sars, 1888 (4 species)
• Bradypallene Kim & Hong, 1987 (1 species)
• Heteronymphon Gordon, 1932 (8 species)
• Neonymphon Stock, 1955 (1 species)
• Nymphon Fabricius, 1794 (> 250 species)
• Pentanymphon Hodgson, 1904 (1 species)
• Sexanymphon Hedgpeth & Fry, 1964 (1 species)

Selected species

• Nymphon gracile Leach, 1814
• Nymphon brevirostre Hodge, 1863
• Nymphon hirtum Kroyer, 1844

Notes and References

1. http://species-identification.org/species.php?species_group=pycnogonida&menuentry=soorten&id=31&tab=beschrijving Nymphon stroemi at Marine Species Identification Portal.
2. Hodgson . T.V. . 1904 . On a new pycnogonid from the south polar regions . Annals and Magazine of Natural History . 14 . 84 . 458–462 . 10.1080/03745480409443036 . Biodiversity Heritage Library.
3. Hedgpeth . Joel W. . 1947 . On the evolutionary significance of the Pycnogonida . Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections . 106 . 18 . 1–53 . Smithsonian Research Online.
4. Hedgpeth . Joel W. . Fry . William G. . 1964-03-01 . Another dodecopodous pycnogonid . Annals and Magazine of Natural History . 7 . 75 . 161–169 . 10.1080/00222936408651451 . 0374-5481.
5. Jayasree . V. . Sreepada . R. A. . Parulekar . A. H. . 1993 . An unusual giant pycnogonid (Pycnogonida-Colossendeidae) Decolopoda qasimi sp. nov. from Antarctic waters . Current Science . en . 65 . 2 . 179–181 . NIO Digital Repository Service.
6. Bamber, R.N., El Nagar, A. & Staples, D. (Eds) (2014). Pycnobase: World Pycnogonida Database. Accessed at http://www.marinespecies.org/pycnobase on 2014-10-30