Sea spiders form a small, enigmatic group of recent chelicerates, with an unusual bodyplan, oligosegmented
larvae and a postembryonic development that is punctuated by many moults. To date, only a few
papers examined the anatomical and ultrastructural modifications of the larvae and various instars. Here
we traced both internal and external events of the whole postembryonic development in Nymphon brevirostre
HODGE 1863 using histology, SEM, TEM and confocal microscopy. During postembryonic development,
larvae of this species undergo massive reorganization: spinning apparatus and chelar glands
disappear; larval legs redifferentiate; three new segments and the abdomen are formed with their corresponding
internal organs and appendages; circulatory and reproductive systems develop anew and the
digestive and the nervous systems change dramatically. The body cavity remains schizocoelic throughout
development, and no traces of even transitory coeloms were found in any instar. In Nymphon brevirostre,
just like in Artemia salina LINNAEUS 1758 the heart arises through differentiation of the already existing
schizocoel, and thus the circulatory systems of arthropods and annelids are not homologous. We found
that classical chelicerate tagmata, prosoma and opisthosoma, are inapplicable to adult pycnogonids, with
the most striking difference being the fate and structure of the seventh appendage-bearing segment.