Polycheles auriculatus Bate, 1878

Ahyong, Shane T. & Chan, Tin-Yam, 2004, Polychelid Lobsters Of Taiwan (Decapoda: Polychelidae), Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 52 (1), pp. 171-182 : 176

Polycheles auriculatus Bate, 1878

( Figs. 3 A-C, 4D)

Pentacheles auriculatus Bate, 1878: 280 [type locality: off Kandavu Island , Fiji, 19º07.50’S, 178º19.35’E].

Polycheles auriculatus - Galil, 2000: 293, 315-317, Fig. 12.

Material examined. – NE Taiwan: 1 male (cl. 15.0 mm), ( NTOU) 24º47.5’N, 122º17.4’E, 1134 m , TAIWAN 2000 CP61, 4 Aug.2000. SW Taiwan: 1 eryoneicus larva (cl. 15.5 mm), ( NTOU), 22 10.0’N, 120 15.9’E, 794-850 m , TAIWAN 2000 CP30, 30 Jul.2000 .

Remarks. – The 15.0 mm specimen agrees in most respects with published accounts ( Bate, 1878; Galil, 2000), differing in having 8 instead of 7 lateral carapace spines on the posterior division, 5-6 instead of 10 spines on the branchial carina, and 2 instead of 3-4 spines on the posterior margin of the cervical groove. These differences appear to be size related, for at 15.0 mm carapace length, the present specimen is smaller than the any of those reported by Galil (2000).

The larval specimen from Station CP30 is tentatively assigned to P. auriculatus . It agrees with P. auriculatus in having paired rostral spines, a spine on the inner and outer margin of the dorsal orbit, paired spines on the outer margin of the basal antennal segment, and lacks an antrorse median spine on the fifth abdominal tergite.

Distribution. – Western Australia to Vanuatu, New Caledonia, the Philippines, Fiji, the Marquesas Islands and for the first time from Taiwan; 532-1500 m ( Galil, 2000).