Pycnogonidae

Sea spiders of the family Pycnogonidae are recognisable by their stubby legs, rough-surfaced exoskeleton and the significant reduction of cephalic appendages. Chelifores (feeding pincers) and palps (sensory limbs) as seen in most other sea spiders are completely absent after postlarval metamorphosis, instead they using only their proboscis to suck juices from their cnidarian prey. Ovigers (cleaning and offspring-carrying limbs) are only retained in adult males, bring absent in all females of this family and exceptionally lost in both sexes of the subgenus Nulloviger.[http://species-identification.org/species.php?species_group=pycnogonida&id=12&menuentry=groepen Family Pycnogonidae] Marine Species Identification Portal. Retrieved 2011-11-22. Their legs are noticeably stout and short, in contrast to other sea spiders with a slender appearance. Like most sea spiders, they usually have four pairs of legs, except for genus Pentapycnon with five pairs.{{Cite journal |last1=Bezerra |first1=Luis |last2=Rabay |first2=Soraya |last3=Matthews-Cascon |first3=Helena |date=2017-04-24 |title=First record of Pentapycnon geayi Bouvier, 1911 (Pycnogonida: Pycnogonidae) in the state of Ceará, northeastern Brazil |url=https://checklist.pensoft.net/article/19701/ |journal=Check List |language=en |volume=13 |issue=2 |page=2099 |doi=10.15560/13.2.2099 |issn=1809-127X|doi-access=free }}{{Cite journal |last=Hedgpeth |first=Joel W. |date=1947 |title=On the evolutionary significance of the Pycnogonida |url=http://repository.si.edu/xmlui/handle/10088/22801 |journal=Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections |volume=106 |issue=18 |pages=1–53 |hdl=10088/22801 |via=Smithsonian Research Online}}{{Cite journal |last1=Soler-Membrives |first1=Anna |last2=Munilla |first2=Tomás |last3=Arango |first3=Claudia P. |last4=Griffiths |first4=Huw |date=2014 |title=Southern Ocean biogeographic patterns in Pycnogonida |url=https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/508234/1/Atlas_Chap.5.14-Soler%20Membrives_et_al_2014-F.pdf |journal=Biogeographic Atlas of the Southern Ocean |location=Cambridge |publisher=Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research |volume=ch. 5.14 |pages=138–141 |isbn=978-0-948277-28-3}}

The World Register of Marine Species lists the following genera:{{Cite web |title=WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Pycnogonidae Wilson, 1878 |url=https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1567 |access-date=2025-04-27 |website=www.marinespecies.org}}

• Pentapycnon Bouvier, 1910
• Pycnogonum Bruennich, 1764

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Category:Pycnogonids

Category:Chelicerate families