List of sea spiders of South Africa

Sea spiders are marine arthropods of the class Pycnogonida, hence they are also called pycnogonids (/pɪkˈnɒɡənədz/; named after Pycnogonum, the type genus; with the suffix -id).

‘all feet’), alongside a few fossil species which could trace back to the early or mid Paleozoic.

The over 1,300 known species have leg spans ranging from 1 mm (0.04 in) to over 70 cm (2.3 ft).

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.

While some literature around the 2000s suggests they may be a sister group to all other living arthropods, their traditional classification as a member of chelicerates alongside horseshoe crabs and arachnids has regained wide support in subsequent studies.