Salmoneus serratidigitus (Coutière, 1896)

(Fig. 20)

Selected synonymy (important Indo-West Pacific records only):

Jousseaumea serratidigitus Coutière 1896: 382; Coutière 1899: 53 et seq. (see Chace & Forest 1970: 1478, for full page and figure numbers).

Salmoneus serratidigitus .— Banner & Banner 1981: 58 (part.), figs. 7 a–g, 8; Banner & Banner 1983: 88; Miya 1984: 86, fig. 4e–h; Banner & Banner 1985: 40; Chace 1988: 71; Bruce 1992: 340, fig. 7; Hayashi 1995: 523, figs. 287c, 288g –i, 289; Nomura et al. 1996: 12; Nomura et al. 1998: 43, fig. 1 L; Nomura & Asakura 1998: 28.

(?) Jousseaumea Sibogae De Man 1910: 303; De Man 1911: 158, (1915) pl. 3, fig. 9.

(?) Salmoneus sibogae .— Holthuis 1958: 20, fig. 8; Banner & Banner 1964: 86; Banner & Banner 1966a: 155; Banner & Banner 1967: 261; Banner & Banner 1968: 270; Banner & Banner 1978: 239; Banner & Banner 1982: 305, fig. 94.

Material examined. Indonesia. 1 non-ov. specimen (MZB Cru 4056), southern Lombok, Tanjung Aan (east of Kuta), degraded coral reef flat with some seagrass and abundant rubble, under large pieces of coral rubble, 0.5–1 m, leg. D.L. Rahayu et al., 15 May 2014 [LB-St7-09C]; 1 non-ov. specimen (OUMNH.ZC. 2014-10-20), same collection data [LB-St7-09B]; 1 ov. specimen (RMNH. CRUS.D.56751), same collection data [LB-St7-09A].

Taxonomic account. See Coutière (1896) and Banner & Banner (1981); see also Miya (1984) for additional illustrations.

Habitat. Coral reefs and near-shore reef flats, with abundant loose rubble and large coral rocks, sometimes near seagrass beds; typically under coral rocks or in crevices of coral rubble. Depth range: intertidal to at least 10 m.

Distribution. Indo-West Pacific: from the Red Sea and Madagascar to Japan, Indonesia, Australia and French Polynesia (Banner & Banner 1981, 1982).

Remarks. Salmoneus serratidigitus needs a thorough taxonomic revision, with a reappraisal of the status of S. sibogae (De Man, 1910), treated valid until Banner & Banner (1981) synonymised it with S. serratidigitus . In life, S. serratidigitus can be recognised by its uniform yolk-yellow colour (Fig. 20), which was also observed by Coutière (1896, 1899) at the type locality of the species in Djibouti. Salmoneus serratidigitus was previously reported from central Indonesia by Banner & Banner (1985).