Chirodactylus Gill

Ludt, William B., Burridge, Christopher P. & Chakrabarty, Prosanta, 2019, A taxonomic revision of Cheilodactylidae and Latridae (Centrarchiformes: Cirrhitoidei) using morphological and genomic characters, Zootaxa 4585 (1), pp. 121-141 : 128-129

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.4585.1.7

publication LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:pub:A0A847B6-734B-4EA5-8872-271482AE29F2

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/43283970-FFFA-0A78-FF56-4B02FDB4FDC4

treatment provided by

Plazi

scientific name

Chirodactylus Gill
status

 

Genus Chirodactylus Gill View in CoL View at ENA

( Fig. 4 View FIGURE 4 )

Chirodactylus Gill, 1862: 119 View in CoL [Type-species: Cheilodactylus antonii Valenciennes, 1833 (= junior synonym of C. variegatus Valenciennes, 1833 View in CoL ) by original designation]. Palunolepis Barnard, 1927: 456 [Type-species: Cheilodactylus grandis Günther, 1860 by original designation].

Etymology. Gender masculine. Derived from the Greek cheir (hand) and daktylos (finger) for the long, unbranched lower pectoral fin rays observed in this genus.

Inclusive species. C. variegatus (Valenciennes) (type species), C. brachydactylus (Cuvier) , C. grandis (Günther) , C. jessicalenorum Smith , C. spectabilis (Hutton)

Diagnosis. Chirodactylus can be diagnosed by the following combination of characters: dorsal-fin elements XVII–XVIII, 22–31; anal-fin elements III, 7–10; pectoral-fin rays 14 with ventral 6–7 unbranched and thickened; lateral-line scales 46–56. Body ovoid and compressed; dorsal profile of head slight to moderate; dorsal-fin increasing gradually in length to 5 th or 6 th spine, decreasing thereafter; no bony processes on frontal bones medially to orbit or anterior to maxilla.

Habitat and distribution. Chirodactylus brachydactylus , C. grandis , and C. jessicalenorum occur off the coast of South Africa to 240m ( Smith 1980). Chirodactylus variegatus occurs in the southeast Pacific off the coast of Chile and Peru, and C. spectabilis occurs in the north island of New Zealand, Tasmania, and occasionally in southern mainland Australia.

Comments. Smith (1980) noted the convoluted taxonomic history of the genus, which is briefly described here. Gill (1862) erected Chirodactylus to include C. antonii Valenciennes 1833 (type species), C. variegatus Valenciennes 1833 , and C. grandis Günther 1860 . Barnard (1927) later described Palunolepis with P. grandis as the type species. Chirodactylus variegatus was later considered a senior synonym to C. antonii (de Buen 1959) . In a review of Australian cheilodactylids, Allen and Heemstra (1976) regarded several genera, including Chirodactylus (but not Palunolepis ), as junior synonyms to Cheilodactylus . Chirodactylus was later resurrected in a comparison of South African morwongs by Smith (1980), who included C. brachydactylus , C. jessicalenorum , C. grandis , and C. variegatus . However, the latter species was not recognized by all (see list of recognized species in Eschmeyer et al. 2019). Recently this genus was synonymized once again with Goniistius , similarly to the classification proposed by Allen & Heemstra (1976), due to low resolution in the topology recovered by Kimura et al. (2018). The genus is re-elevated and expanded here to include C. variegatus (senior synonym of C. antonii , type species) and C. spectabilis based on strongly supported molecular evidence and morphological characters. Chirodactylus is superficially similar to Goniistius , but can be distinguished by a shallower dorsal head profile, a lack of bony processes on the frontal bones and maxilla, and a lack of a greatly enlarged 4 th dorsal-fin spine.

Material examined. C. brachydactylus , USNM 93652 About USNM [n=1, South Africa: Western Cape] , USNM 153508 About USNM [n=2, South Africa: Western Cape] , ANSP 97440 About ANSP [n=1, Mozambique: Maputo Bay ]; C. jessicalenorum , USNM 221145 About USNM [n=3, South Africa: Natal ]; C. spectabilis , NMV A22205 View Materials [n=1, Australia: New South Wales: Green Cape ] , NMV A14 About NMV [n=1, Australia: Victoria] , NMV A44 About NMV [n=1, Australia: Victoria: Welshpool ] , NMV A24816 View Materials [n=1, Australia: Victoria: Little Ram Head Point ]; C. variegatus , CAS 8447 About CAS [n=4, Peru: Lima: Bay of Callao] , USNM 77517 About USNM [n=1] , USNM 128061 About USNM [n=4] .

NMV

Museum Victoria

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Actinopterygii

Order

Perciformes

Family

Cheilodactylidae

Loc

Chirodactylus Gill

Ludt, William B., Burridge, Christopher P. & Chakrabarty, Prosanta 2019
2019
Loc

Palunolepis

Barnard 1927: 456
1927
Loc

Chirodactylus

Gill 1862: 119
1862
Loc

Cheilodactylus grandis Günther, 1860

Gunther 1860
1860
Loc

Cheilodactylus antonii

Valenciennes 1833
1833
Loc

C. variegatus

Valenciennes 1833
1833
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