Marine Species Identification Portal : Pseudotanais forcipatus

(Lilljeborg, 1864)

Description:
Body length of female 1. 2 mm, of male 1 mm. Cephalothorax nearly as broad as long. Ocular lobes and eyes absent. Mandibles well developed with molar process spiniform.
Chelipeds well developed in both sexes, large and robust in male.
Pleopods absent in female, present in male.
Pereionites 4 and 5 of female noticeably longer than other pereionites.
Pleonites and pleotelson of female short. Body of male narrower than female with pereionites 3-5 longer than other pereionites (P. forcipatus-male). Male pleonites and pleotelson long, together only a little shorter than pereionites 1-5 together.
Uropods biramous. In females the exopodite and endopodite of the uropod are without distinct articles, and the exopodite is only slightly shorter than the endopodite. In the male the endopodite of the uropod is two-articled and twice the length of the single-articied exopodite.

Habitat:
Its vertical distribution ranges from 15-349 m.

Distribution:
It has a wide boreal and arctic distribution which includes the east and west coasts of Greenland, northern Iceland, the whole of the Norwegian coast and the east and west coasts of Scotland.

Pseudotanais forcipatus