Maageninum kanakorum gen. nov., sp. nov.
Sea spiders (Arthropoda: Pycnogonida) include approximately 1,400 species distributed throughout the world’s oceans and seas. Most species are classified into one of the 11 widely accepted families, but about 20 species have so far resisted assignment to this classification. In this article, a new species of uncertain affinities, Maageninum kanakorum sp. nov., is described from deep waters (ca. 200 m) southeast of New Caledonia in the Coral Sea. Its combination of characters is unique among modern sea spiders: chelifores are absent, palps are minute in males and absent in females, ovigers are two-articled in males and only vestigial in females, and gonopores are located on the ventral surface of coxae 2 in legs 2 to 4 in both males and females. Maageninum therefore represents another puzzling taxon that challenges the current state of pycnogonid taxonomy and calls for further taxonomic revision and phylogenetic investigation.
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