Nymphonidae

Short description: Family of sea spiders

Nymphonidae

The pycnogonid Nymphon leptocheles grazes on a hydroid Tubularia indivisa.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:  | Animalia
Phylum:  | Arthropoda
Subphylum:  | Chelicerata
Class:  | Pycnogonida
Order:  | Pantopoda
Suborder:  | Eupantopodida
Superfamily:  | Nymphonoidea
Family:  | Nymphonidae
Genera

Boreonymphon
Bradypallene
Heteronymphon
Neonymphon
Nymphon
Pentanymphon
Sexanymphon

Diversity
7 genera, 250 species

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

## References

1. ↑ 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. doi:10.1080/03745480409443036. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/78261#page/496/mode/1up.
3. ↑ Hedgpeth, Joel W. (1947). "On the evolutionary significance of the Pycnogonida". Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 106 (18): 1–53. http://repository.si.edu/xmlui/handle/10088/22801.
4. ↑ Hedgpeth, Joel W.; Fry, William G. (1964-03-01). "Another dodecopodous pycnogonid". Annals and Magazine of Natural History 7 (75): 161–169. doi:10.1080/00222936408651451. ISSN 0374-5481. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222936408651451.
5. ↑ Jayasree, V.; Sreepada, R. A.; Parulekar, A. H. (1993). "An unusual giant pycnogonid (Pycnogonida-Colossendeidae) Decolopoda qasimi sp. nov. from Antarctic waters" (in en). Current Science 65 (2): 179–181. https://drs.nio.org/xmlui/handle/2264/2750.
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

Wikidata ☰ Q1634893 entry

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