Agononida auscerta Poore & Andreakis, 2012

(Figs 2 b, 4a)

Agononida sp. aff. incerta .— Poore et al. 2008: 18 (part).

Agononida auscerta Poore & Andreakis, 2012: 16 –18, figs 2F, 2G, 9.

Material examined. PAPUA NEW GUINEA, W of New Hanover, 02°15'S, 150°16'E, 402–440 m (BIOPAPUA stn CP3655), MNHN IU- 2011-2426 (det. E. Macpherson).

Diagnosis. Telson anterolateral margin almost straight over anterior three-quarters, posterior quarter separated by shallow hiatus. Pereopods 2–4 dactyli with 8–9 times as long as greatest basal width; robust setae on flexor margin of dactylus of pereopod 2 number 2–6 (median 4; rarely 8), of pereopod 3, 1–4 (median 2) and of pereopod 4, 1–2 (rarely 3). Pereopod 4 merus without spines proximally on upper face. (Poore & Andreakis 2012)

Distribution. Western Australia, PNG, 2°S–22°S; 373–446 m (median 404 m) depth.

Remarks. Agononida auscerta was recovered sister species to A. rubrizonata in clade B but is morphologically most similar to A. incerta . The anterolateral margin of the telson has only a slight indentation in the male (almost none in the female), the anterior three-quarters being only slightly concave if at all and the posterior quarter barely convex ( A. incerta always has a clear notch separating these two sections). The numbers of robust setae on pereopodal dactyli are fewer, usually 2–6 on pereopod 2 (12–30, median 17, in A. incerta) and 1–4 on pereopod 3 (2–10, median 6, in A. incerta). The cheliped of an ovigerous female (Fig. 4 a) is similar to that of the small male figured by Poore & Andreakis (2012: Fig. 9 A) and is of a delicate form; it is uncertain if more robust forms exist as in larger females of other species. Supermales are unknown. The specimen identified by Enrique Macpherson and photographed by T.-Y. Chan extends the range of this species further east and north from its original records in Western Australia.