Electrophorus electricus ( Linnaeus, 1766 )

Ferraris, Carl J., Jr, Santana, Carlos David de & Vari, Richard P., 2017, Checklist of Gymnotiformes (Osteichthyes: Ostariophysi) and catalogue of primary types, Neotropical Ichthyology 15 (1), No. e 160067, pp. 1-8 : 1-8

Electrophorus electricus ( Linnaeus, 1766)

Gymnoti tremuli Gronovius, 1760: 27, pl. 3. Type locality: Americam meridionalem. Perhaps not available, but requires further examination.

Gymnotus tremulus Houttuyn, 1764: 111 . Type locality: Not stated in the original description. Types: Based on Seba (1758: pl. 34, fig. 6), Gronovius (1760: 27, pl. 3), and Gronovius (1763: 41, pl. 8, fig. 1).

Gymnotus electricus Linnaeus, 1766: 427 . Type locality: in Surinamo aliisque Americae meridionalis ostiis fluviorum [= Suriname]. Syntypes (several): Based on several literature sources, including Seba (1758: pl. 34, fig. 6), and Gronovius (1763: 41, pl. 8 fig. 1), from which the description was taken.

Gymnotus Regius Delle Chiaje, 1847: 273 , footnote. Type locality: America meridionale. No types known.

Electrophorus multivalvulus Nakashima, 1941: 462 , fig. on p. 465. Type locality: la cocha Zapote, del rio Pacaya , departamento de Loreto, Peru. Type (s): Whereabouts unknown. Specific name spelled multitalvulus in table on p. 463.

Remarks: Synonymy follows Campos-da-Paz (2003). The names Gymnoti tremuli Gronovius, 1760, and Gymnotus tremulus Houttuyn, 1764 , are probably available and both have priority over Gymnotus electricus Linnaeus, 1766 . However, it is likely that G. electricus meets the criteria for reversal of precedence (ICZN, 1999, Art. 23.9), and as such the name is retained here as valid.

Distribution: Amazon and Orinoco River basins, and Guianas ( Campos-da-Paz, 2003).

GYMNOTUS Linnaeus, 1758 (40 species)

Gymnotus Linnaeus, 1758: 246 . Type species: Gymnotus carapo Linnaeus, 1758 . Type by Linnean tautonomy. Gender: masculine.

Carapus Cuvier, 1816: 237 . Type species: Not yet found. The only possibilities are Gymnotus carapo Linnaeus, 1758 , Gymnotus rostratus Linnaeus, 1766 , Gymnotus brachiurus Bloch, 1786 and Gymnotus fasciatus Gmelin, 1789 . Gender: masculine. Preoccupied by Carapus Rafinesque, 1810 , in fishes. Müller (1846: 194, footnote 2), may have selected the type species in the following statement: “Hierher Carapus fasciatus ( Gymnotus brachiurus Bl. )”]

Giton Duméril, 1856: 201 . Type species: Giton fasciata [= Gymnotus fasciatus Gmelin ]. Type by monotypy. Gender: feminine. It appears that Duméril intended to list two species in his new genus, by the statements: “ Giton arhea , fasciata”, as well as an earlier remark that states that he recognized six species in five genera, four of which were clearly monotypic. It is possible that his “ Giton arhea ” is a printing error for Carapus albus in Kaup (1856), which together with Carapus fasciatus are the only two species Kaup recognized in that genus. Duméril linked Carapus to “ Carapus macrourus ”, an unavailable name in Bloch, 1786, which appears to justify the proposal of the genus name Giton for C. albus and C. fasciatus . Since it is not certain that Giton arhea is Gymnotus albus , we treat Giton as having been proposed with a single available species and thus consider Gymnotus fasciatus type by monotypy.

Remarks: Inclusion of Carapus in the synonymy is tentative, inasmuch as the identity of the type species is still unresolved. “ Gymnotus macrourus Bloch ”, has been incorrectly reported to be the type species (e.g., Jordan, 1917: 101) of Carapus Cuvier , inasmuch as it is not an available name.

Phylogeny and biogeography: Albert et al. (2005); Lovejoy et al. (2010).

Key: Albert, Miller (1995).