A global revision of the Seahorses Hippocampus Rafinesque 1810 (Actinopterygii: Syngnathiformes): Taxonomy and biogeography with recommendations for further research
Sara A. Lourie
Riley A. Pollom
Sarah J. Foster
Zootaxa
2016
4146
1
1
66
3LZPC
Weber 1913
Weber
1913
[151,511,396,422]
Actinopterygii
Syngnathidae
Hippocampus
Animalia
Syngnathiformes
39
40
Chordata
species
spinosissimus
Synonyms. H. alatus Kuiter 2001, H. arneiRoule 1916(in part), H. curvicuspis Fricke 2004(in part), H. queenslandicus Horne 2001, H. semispinosus Kuiter 2001. Syntypes.ZMA 104.665 (2).
Typelocality. Sapeh Strait, Indonesia.
Distribution. Australia(north), Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, SriLanka, Taiwan, Province of China, Thailand, Viet Nam. FIGURE 36.Range map for Hippocampus spinosissimus.See Figure 2 caption for further details. Notes.The typespecimens of H. spinosissimusare surprisingly small, yet they are males with fully developed pouches. Theyalso have clear nose spines, double cheek spines, and all body spines are approximately equally developed. Athird specimen labelled as ‘type’ ( ZMA114.473) had single cheek spines. Lourie et al.(1999)used this name to refer to spiny seahorses from across Southeast Asia, even though the latter frequently lacked a nose spine. Nogenetic data are available from the typespecimens. Morphologicaland genetic data do not support the distinctness of H. queenslandicusnor H. semispinosusfrom what is understood as H. spinosissimusby Lourie et al.(1999)( Teske et al.2007c; BOLD2016; Appendix N; see also Zhang et al.2014). Admittedlythere exists variation in spine development and colour pattern among H. spinosissimusspecimens and genetic data indicate that haplotype diversity is high, with three major lineages, two of which are broadly sympatric and one that is restricted to the central Philippines( Lourie et al.2005). However, the genetic divergence among specimens of H. spinosissimusexamined from Australia, Malaysiaand the Philippinesis only 0.82% (648bp, CO1) ( BOLD2016), and the average cytochrome bsequence divergence among 172 specimensfrom 29 populations is only 1.3% ( Lourie et al.2005). Atpresent we suggest that the variation represents polymorphism within a single species, rather than different species, however further investigation is warranted. Kuiter(2009) and Allen& Erdmann(2012)identify spiny Southeast Asianseahorses variously as H. arnei(see comments under H. barbouri), H. alatus, H. moluccensis(see comments under H. kuda), and H. polytaenia. Theillustration of H. polytaenia( Bleeker, 1983)does show markings and moderately developed spines that are reminiscent of H. spinosissimus,however the typespecimens conform to H. kuda(SL pers. obs.). Hippocampus alatusis tentatively synonymised here on the basis of morphological similarity, pending further work (especially genetics) (see Appendix N).
1416636191
[199,630,610,635]
Indonesia
Sapeh Strait
39
40
1
holotype
1416636185
ZMA
Lourie & Southeast Asia
They
39
40
ZMA 114.473
1
A
holotype
1416636175
BOLD
Appendix N & Lourie & At & Kuiter & Allen & Erdmann & Southeast Asian & The
Australia
However
40
41
Morphological
Lourie
39
40
BOLD 2016
172
No
holotype