A NEW SPECIES OF THE ROCK SHRIMP GENUS SICYONIA (DECAPODA, SICYONIIDAE) FROM SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA, WITH A KEY TO THE INDO-WEST PACIFIC SPECIES

A new species of the rock shrimp genus Sicyonia, S. australiensis sp. nov. (Decapoda, Sicyoniidae) is described and illustrated based on spe cimens collected from south-eastern Australia. The new species has the first two abdominal somites with an anteriorly directed dorsomedian s pine; consequently it resembles closely the following four species: S. laevis Bate, 1888, S. nebulosa (Kubo, 1949), S. truncata (Kubo, 1949) and S, nasica Burukovsky, 1990. However, S. australiensis can be dist inguished from its congeners by a combination of features, having the pleuron of the fifth abdominal somites with a posteroventral spine and the rostrum moderately high throughout the entire length, with the di stal end posteriorly inclined to ventrad. The genital structures also distinguish the Australian specimens from the related species.