Axius sp.

Poore, Gary C. B. & Collins, David J., 2009, Australian Axiidae (Crustacea: Decapoda: Axiidea), Memoirs of Museum Victoria 66 (2), pp. 221-287 : 244

Axius sp. aff. werribee ( Poore and Griffin, 1979)

Material examined. NSW, 44 km E of Nowra (34°55.47'S – 34°56.04'S, 151°08.04'E – 151°07.52'E), 429 m, (stn SLOPE 56 ), G.C.B. Poore on RV Franklin, 22 Oct 1988, NMV J16793 (juvenile male, cl. 4.0 mm; juvenile, cl. 2.9 mm)

Remarks. These two specimens from the continental slope lack all pereopods except one pereopod 3 on the smaller one. The rostrum and gastric carinae are exactly as in Axius werribee but article 4 and the scaphocerite of the antenna are significantly more elongate than in the subtidal species.They were compared with similarly sized individuals of A. werribee from Port Phillip Bay in NMV collections whose antenna is as described for the larger adults. The larger specimen has visible male gonopores but lacks pleopod 1 and appendix masculina as do small males of A. werribee . The more elongate antenna and the ecological separation (slope depths vs subtidal) suggest a second Australian species of Axius similar to A. werribee (and to A. armatus ). A description awaits the discovery of adults.