Neosynchiropus ( Nalbant, 1979 )

Fricke, Ronald, 2016, Synchiropus novaehiberniensis, a new species of dragonet from New Ireland, Papua New Guinea, western Pacific Ocean, with a review of subgenus Synchiropus (Neosynchiropus) and description of a new subgenus (Teleostei: Callionymidae), Journal of Natural History 50, pp. 3003-3028 : 3009-3010

Neosynchiropus ( Nalbant, 1979) [subgenus of Synchiropus Gill ]

Type species: Neosynchiropus bacescui Nalbant, 1979 ; synonym of Synchiropus marmoratus ( Peters, 1855) .

Neosynchiropus Nalbant, 1979: 349 [type species: Neosynchiropus bacescui Nalbant, 1979 ; synonym of Synchiropus marmoratus ( Peters, 1855) .]

Neosynchiropus Nakabo, 1982: 92 (part; type species: Callionymus ocellatus Pallas, 1770 ; pre-occupied by Neosynchiropus Nalbant, 1979 ).

Synchiropus-ocellatus species-group: Fricke 1983a: 586 (part).

Synchiropus (subgen. 1): Fricke 2002: 102 (part).

Diagnosis

A subgenus of the genus Synchiropus with a small branchial opening in sublateral position; head short (3.0– 4.4 in SL); eye moderate to large (1.7–3.0 in head length); preopercular spine with a short, usually upcurved main tip, one to three curved points on its dorsal margin, no antrorse spine at its base, ventral margin smooth, slightly concave; supraorbital tentacle absent; no transverse lateral-line commissure on dorsal side of caudal peduncle; first dorsal fin with four flexible spines, in the male usually much higher than second dorsal fin, in the female slightly higher to lower than second dorsal fin; second dorsal fin distally straight, with eight branched rays (last divided at base); anal fin with seven branched rays (last divided at base, the anterior tip bifurcate); 18–24 pectoral-fin rays; caudal fin distally rounded, the seven median rays branched; cranium moderately depressed; lateral ethmoid not strongly depressed; supraethmoid with a large foramen in the centre; supraoccipital bearing a low crest; pterosphenoid with an inward projection towards the brain cavity; nasal bones present; upper jaw protracted ventrally; anterior tip of premaxillary pointed; lower jaw moderately depressed; sesamoid articulars slightly curved; urohyal with the middle ramus longer than the ventral ramus, and anterior dorsal edge of middle ramus spoon-shaped; third branchiostegal ray attached to abaxial face of epihyal; soft retrorse spine at posterodorsal end of opercle not filamentous; post-temporal notch opening horizontally; anteroventral ramus of cleithrum narrow; coracoid without a process at its dorsal margin; vertebrae 7 + 14; second neural spine slender, sharply pointed.

Comparisons

The subgenus Synchiropus (Neosynchiropus) mainly differs from Synchiropus (Acommissura) by the branched anal-fin rays [unbranched in Synchiropus (Acommissura) ], and from the other subgenera of the genus by the absence of a transverse lateral-line commissure on the dorsal side of the caudal peduncle.

Remarks

A revised checklist of the species assigned to the subgenera Synchiropus (Neosynchiropus) and Synchiropus (Acommissura) subgen. nov. is presented below, as well as a key to the species. The subgenus Neosynchiropus now contains a total of six species.

Checklist of the species included in the subgenus Synchiropus (Neosynchiropus) ( Nalbant, 1979)