page_title: List of sea spiders of South Africa
section_title: Family Ammotheidae
hierarchical_section_title: List of sea spiders of South Africa / Order Pantopoda / Suborder Eupantopodida / Superfamily Ascorhynchoidea / Family Ammotheidae
caption_attribution_description: English: A photograph of the sea spider, Tanystylum brevipes taken off Cape Town in 20m of water using a Nikonos V camera
context_page_description: The list of sea spiders of South Africa is a list of species that form a part of the pycnogonid fauna of South Africa. The list follows the SANBI listing on iNaturalist, and does not always agree with WoRMS for distribution.
  Sea spiders, also called Pantopoda or pycnogonids, are marine arthropods of class Pycnogonida. They are cosmopolitan, found in oceans around the world. There are over 1300 known species, with legs ranging from 1 mm to over 70 cm. Most are toward the smaller end of this range in relatively shallow depths; however, they can grow to be quite large in Antarctic and deep waters.
  Although "sea spiders" are not true spiders, or even arachnids, their traditional classification as chelicerates would place them closer to true spiders than to other well-known arthropod groups, such as insects or crustaceans. This is in dispute, however, as genetic evidence suggests they may be the sister group to all other living arthropods.
context_section_description: Achelia barnardi Stock, 1959 – endemic
  Achelia brevicauda (Loman, 1904) – endemic
  Achelia nana (Loman, 1908)
  Achelia quadridentata (Hodgson, 1910)
  Ammothella indica Stock, 1954
  Ammothella setacea (Helfer, 1938) – endemic 
  Cilunculus bifidus (Stock, 1968) – endemic
  Cilunculus sewelli Calman, 1938
  Nymphopsis cuspidata Hodgson, 1910 – endemic
  Nymphopsis varipes Stock, 1962 – endemic
  Tanystylum brevipes (Hoek, 1881)
  Tanystylum ornatum Flynn, 1928
  Tanystylum thermophilum Barnard, 1946 – endemic
caption: Tanystylum brevipes
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