Austinograea Hessler & Martin 1989

Genus Austinograea Hessler & Martin, 1989 TYPE SPECIES. — Austinograea williamsi Hessler & Martin, 1989, by original designation and monotypy. REMARKS The genus Austinograea currently consists of four species in the western Pacific: 1) A. williamsi Hessler & Martin, 1989, which seems to be confined to the northwestern Pacific, in the Mariana Back-Arc Basin (just west of the Mariana Island Arc) and found in abundance in snail beds filling the vent openings of the Mariana Trough; 2) A. alayseae, originally collected from the Lau Back-Arc Basin, subsequently found distributed across hydrothermal vent areas in the Southwest Pacific Ocean, e.g. along the Eastern Lau Spreading Center and also reported from the North Fiji Basin, Tonga Arc and Manus Basin (see below); 3) A. hourdezi, a widespread species encountered in the southwestern Pacific from numerous vent fields of the Lau and North Fiji Back-Arc Basins, now identified in the Woodlark Basin (see still from the video 190527174907236_15_1080 of La Scala vent Site) (Fig. 8A) and which cohabits with A. alayseae at a number of sites (see below); and 4) and the rare and enigmatic A. jolliveti from the southwestern Pacific, collected so far only from one site in the Lau Basin (ABE Site) and one site in the North Fiji Basin (Mussel Valley Site). Another species, A. rodriguezensis Tsuchida & Hashimoto, 2002, is located well apart, in the western Indian Ocean. The new Austinograea found in the Woodlarlk and Manus Basins described here would be the sixth species of the genus.