File:Pycnogonida_collage.png · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Pycnogonida
Sign in to saveAlso known as sea spiders, sea spider, pycnogonid, pycnogonids
class of marine arthropods
OverviewAI-generated
Pycnogonida, commonly known as sea spiders, is a class of marine arthropods within the phylum Arthropoda and kingdom Animalia. The taxon was described by Latreille in 1810 and is classified as an accepted group. Alternative common names for these organisms include Zeespinnen and havedderkopper. They are distinct from other chelicerates as a separate class under the parent taxon Chelicerata.
Records of Pycnogonida appear in various institutions and regions. Specimens have been documented in the United States, French Polynesia, and Papua New Guinea. Collections are held by institutions such as LACM and USNM. The group has a significant presence in scientific literature, referenced by 232 other encyclopedia articles. Occurrence data includes 93,600 records, with 1,935 specific records containing 290 associated media items.
Synthesized by Vinony from 29 facts across 6 sources: Wikidata, GBIF, Gbif Occ, WoRMS, iDigBio, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Species
sea spiders
Pycnogonida
CLASS
- KingdomAnimalia
- PhylumArthropoda
- ClassPycnogonida
via GBIF
Museum specimens
- Specimen records
- 1,935
- With media
- 290
- Collections
- LACM, USNM
- Recorded in
- United States, French Polynesia, Papua New Guinea
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- taxon
- Parent taxon
- Chelicerata
- Image
- Nymphon maculatum 2011-721 (1) (cropped).jpg
Show 6 more facts
- taxon rank
- class
- taxon name
- Pycnogonida
- Commons category
- Pycnogonida
- topic's main category
- Category:Pycnogonids
- taxon common name
- havedderkopper
- on focus list of Wikimedia project
- Wikipedia:Vital articles/Level/4
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~29 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Sea spiders are marine arthropods of the class Pycnogonida, hence they are also called pycnogonids (/pɪkˈnɒɡənədz/; named after Pycnogonum, the type genus; with the suffix -id). The class includes the only extant order Pantopoda (lit. 'all feet'), alongside a few fossil species which could trace back to the early or mid-Paleozoic.
They are cosmopolitan, found in oceans around the world. The over 1,300 known species have leg spans ranging from 1 mm (0.04 in) to over 70 cm (2.3 ft). Most are toward the smaller end of this range in relatively shallow depths; however, they can grow to be quite large in the Antarctic region and in deep waters.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Pycnogonida” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.