Patonga gen. nov.

Type species. Patonga nona sp. nov.

Included species. Patonga includes one species: P. nona sp. nov.

Etymology. Named for the small village near the mouth of the Hawkesbury River in New South Wales.

Diagnostic description. Antenna 1 accessory flagellum forming partial operculum. Antenna 2 flagellum article 5 slender (without brush setae). Mandibular incisor curved; palp attached midway. Maxilla 1 ST-7 serrate along most of medial margin; ST-D slender, serrate along most of medial margin. Maxilliped outer plate apical robust setae present. Gnathopod 1 subchelate; coxa large, nearly as long as coxa 2, not tapering; carpus subequal to slightly longer than propodus. Pereopod 4 coxa without posteroventral lobe. Uropod 2 inner ramus not constricted. Uropod 3 rami with plumose setae. Telson deeply cleft.

Remarks. The genus appears to be most similar to Lepiduristes Barnard & Karaman, 1987, a monotypic genus known only from abyssal depths in the Caribbean Sea. These taxa are separated by the antenna 1 peduncle article 1 which is much more dorsally produced in Lepiduristes; the gnathopod 1 coxa, tapering in Lepiduristes but subrectangular in Patonga; the gnathopod 1 propodus which is much more elongate in Lepiduristes; and the uropod 3 which has an elongate second article on the outer ramus in Lepiduristes versus a short article in Patonga .

Patonga is also very similar to Tryphosoides Schellenberg, 1931, but has a much longer antenna 1 accessory flagellum and lacks the characteristic offset accessory flagellum terminal article seen in Tryphosoides .

Patonga differs from Cedrosella in having a non-tapering gnathopod 1 coxa and a much more poorly developed pereopod 4 basis posterior lobe.

Distribution. Eastern Australia.