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