aqua, International Journal of Ichthyology Description of a new subfamily, genus and species of a freshwater atherinid, Bleheratherina pierucciae (Pisces: Atherinidae) from New Caledonia Aarn and Walter Ivantsof f* DeparTmenT of Biological Sciences Macquarie UniversiTy, NorTh Ryde AusTralia, 2109. PosTal address: P.O. Box 3753 Marsfield NSW 2122, AusTralia. *E-mail: [email protected] Received: 19 August 2008 – Accepted: 05 January 2009 Abstract gemeinsamen AusgangspunkT miT ausTralischen KüsTen- Bleheratherina pierucciae is described from TonTouTa und Meeresfischen haben, wahrscheinlich gab es einen (26 °56.9’S 166 °14’E) and Pirogues Rivers, New Caledo - gemeinsamen Vorfahren in der marinen UmwelT, speziell nia. The new species has been compared wiTh oTher Indo- im Arafura-Meer. ErsT die zoogeografischen Ereignisse am Pacific aTherinids, boTh freshwaTer and marine (represenTa - Ende des Paläozäns, die zur AbTrennung Neu-Kaledoniens Tives of genera Atherinason, Atherinomorus, Atherinosoma, von AusTralien und zur Bildung einer eigenen Insel Atherion, Craterocephalus , Hypoatherina, Kestratherina, führTen, dürfTen zur EigenenTwicklung der damaligen Leptatherina and Stenatherina) and an aTherionid (Athe - ArTen und ihrer Eroberung der Süßgewässer in Neukale - rion). Dyer & Chernoff’s (1996) division of ATherinidae donien geführT haben. inTo Three subfamilies has been briefly reviewed and a fourTh subfamily, BleheraTherininae, is now added To This Résumé lisT since The new species is disTincT and differenT from all Bleheratherina pierucciae esT décriT, originaire des rivières known aTherinids. Bleheratherina pierucciae can be imme - TonTouTa (26°56.9’S 116°14’E) eT Pirogues, Nouvelles- diaTely recognised by The unusual sTrucTure of iTs mouTh - Calédonie. La nouvelle espèce a éTé comparée avec d’auTres parTs. OTher disTincT osTeological characTers confirm ThaT iT AThérinidés de l’Indo-Pacifique, aussi bien d’eau douce que meriTs a subfamilial sTaTus. The evoluTionary hisTory of This marins (représenTanTs des genres Atherinason, Atheri - new species musT have commonaliTy wiTh The AusTralian nomorus, Atherinosoma, Atherion, Craterocephalus, Hypoathe - coasTal and marine fishes, having probably been derived rina, Kestratherina, Leptatherina eT Stenatherina) eT avec un from a common ancesTor likely To have occurred in a AThérinidé (Atherion). La subdivision des ATherinidae, de marine environmenT i.e. Arafura Sea. The zoogeographic Dyer & Chernoff (1996) en Trois sous-familles a éTé briève - evenTs, which led To The separaTion of New Caledonia from menT revue eT une quaTrième sous-famille, BleheraTherini - AusTralia and iTs emergence as a separaTe island, posT nae, s’ajouTe mainTenanT à ceTTe lisTe, vu que la nouvelle Palaeocene, musT have led To a divergence of The ancesTral espèce se disTingue de Tous les AThérinidés connus. Blehera - fauna which invaded The freshwaTers of New Caledonia. terina pierucciae se reconnaîT facilemenT par la sTrucTure inhabiTuelle des parTies de la bouche. D’auTres caracTères Zusammenfassung osTéologiques disTincTs confirmenT son sTaTuT de sous- Beschrieben wird Bleheratherina pierucciae von TonTouTa famille. L’hisToire de l’évoluTion de ceTTe nouvelle espèce doiT (26°56.9’S 166°14’O) und Pirogues Rivers, New Caledo - avoir des poinTs communs avec les poissons côTiers eT marins nia. Die neue ArT wird miT anderen indo-pazifischen d’AusTralie, dans la mesure où elle descend probablemenT ATheriniden verglichen, sowohl Süßwasser- als auch d’un ancêTre commun qui a dû vivre dans un environ - Meeresbewohnern (VerTreTern der GaTTungen Atherinason, nemenT marin, en l’occurrence la Mer d’Arafura. Les événe - Atherinomorus, Atherinosoma, Atherion, Craterocephalus, menTs zoogéographiques qui onT présidé à la séparaTion Hypoatherina, Kestratherina, Leptatherina und Stenathe - enTre la Nouvelle-Calédonie eT l’AusTralie eT son occurrence rina) sowie miT einem ATherioniden (Atherion). Die von en TanT qu’île après le Paléocène, a dû provoquer une dif - Dyer & Chernoff (1996) sTammende UnTerTeilung der férenciaTion de la forme ancesTrale qui a invesTi les eaux ATheriniden in drei UnTerfamilien wurde überarbeiTeT und douces de Nouvelle-Calédonie. eine vierTe UnTerfamilie, BleheraTherininae, hinzugefügT, denn die neue ArT unTerscheideT sich deuTlich von den Sommario bisher bekannTen Ährenfischen. Bleheratherina pierucciae Bleheratherina pierucciae è descriTTa sulla base di esem - lässT sich an der ungewöhnlichen STrukTur des Maulbere - plari raccolTi nei TorrenTi TonTouTa (26°56.9’S 166°14’E) e ichs leichT erkennen. WeiTerhin sprechen osTeologische Pirogues, Nuova Caledonia. La nuova specie è sTaTa com - Merkmale für einen besonderen Subfamilien-STaTus. Die paraTa ad alTri aTerinidi dell’Indo-Pacifico, sia d’acqua EvoluTionsgeschichTe dieser neuen ArT dürfTe einen dolce sia marini (rappresenTanTi dei generi Atherinason, 13 aqua vol. 15 no. 1 - 24 January 2009 DescripTion of a new subfamily, genus and species of a freshwaTer aTherinid, Bleheratherina pierucciae (Pisces: ATherinidae) from New Caledonia Atherinomorus, Atherinosoma, Atherion, Craterocephalus, (2006). All oTher New World silversides have been Hypoatherina, Kestratherina, Leptatherina e Stenatherina) e separaTed inTo a family of Their own The ATherinop - al genere Atherion. La suddivisione degli ATherinidae in Tre sidae by Saeed eT al. (1994). soTTofamiglie secondo Dyer & Chernoff (1996) è sTaTa All freshwaTer aTherinid species are derived from brevemenTe riesaminaTa e una quarTa soTTofamiglia, Ble - heraTherininae, è ora aggiunTa a quesTa lisTa poiché la marine ancesTors and unTil recenTly have only been nuova specie si disTingue da TuTTi gli alTri aTerinidi noTi. known from The rivers of AusTralia, New Guinea Bleheratherina pierucciae può essere immediaTamenTe and some islands in The viciniTy of The laTTer. No riconosciuTa per la sTruTTura insoliTa delle parTi boccali. “freshwaTer” aTherinids are presenT in Africa or AlTre caraTTerisTiche osTeologiche confermano che la specie Europe oTher Than Those found in lakes and meriTa la collocazione in una soTTofamiglia separaTa. La sua lagoons , which may be brackish or freshwaTer, in sToria evoluzionisTica deve conTenere elemenTi comuni con The viciniTy of The MediTerranean, Black, Aral and i pesci marini che abiTano le cosTe ausTraliane, poiché prob - Caspian Seas. These are euryhaline fish, all proba - abilmenTe si è originaTa da un anTenaTo comune che abiTava l’ambienTe marino del mare di Arafura. Gli evenTi bly derived from Atherina boyeri Risso, 1810 (Tra - zoogeografici che hanno porTaTo alla separazione della belsi eT al. 2004). IT appears, however, ThaT fresh - Nuova Caledonia dall’AusTralia e la sua comparsa come waTer aTherinids do occur on islands in The souTh isola separaTa nel Tardo Paleocene devono aver porTaTo ad Pacific oTher Than in AusTralia and The island of una divergenza della fauna ancesTrale che ha colonizzaTo le New Guinea. In 2005, Larson eT al . described a acque dolci della Nuova Caledonia. freshwaTer species Craterocephalus laisapi from EasT Timor. The presenT descripTion is an accounT of The INTRODUCTION discovery and idenTificaTion of a new freshwaTer ATherinids are small marine, esTuarine and fresh - aTherinid collecTed by Heiko Bleher and Paola waTer fishes noT exceeding 120 mm SL (a soon To Pierucci from The TonTouTa River, some 45 km be described species of Craterocephalus may reach norTh-easT of Noumea. AnoTher collecTion was 300 mm SL), occurring predominanTly in The Old made from The Pirogues River, New Caledonia, World, wiTh only Alepidomus evermanni (freshwa - abouT 15 km souTh easT of Noumea, during The Ters of Cuba) and Two marine species, Atheri - Pedcal Field Survey in 1996, wiTh specimens now nomorus stipes and Hypoatherina harringtonensis deposiTed in The Muséum naTional d’HisToire (predominanTly in The shore waTers of The naTurelle in Paris. ATherinids have a long evolu - Caribbean) known from The New World. In The Tionary hisTory, They are known from Eocene Euro - SouTheasT Pacific, The family is only known only pean deposiTs (IvanTsoff 1978) and The relaTionship from Tumaco, Colombia, according To Dyer beTween descendanTs (Atherina spp.) of The TeThys Fig. 1. ApproximaTe posiTion of New Caledonia in LaTe CreTaceous. NoTe ThaT New Guinea is under waTer aT This Time. Mod - ified afTer GriffiThs (1971). aqua vol. 15 no. 1 - 24 January 2009 14 Aarn and WalTer IvanTsof f forms and Those found off The easTern coasT of Aus - Lakamora, Kamaka, KuTubu, Yamur) and Aru Tralia have been shown To be close (IvanTsoff 1978). Islands (H. Bleher, pers. com.) suggesTing a local The zoogeography of New Caledonia is relaTed To cenTre of origin somewhere beyond whaT is a seT of zoogeographical evenTs which encompass presenTly norThern AusTralia. The ancesTor To The The separaTion of whaT is now New Caledonia and New Caledonian freshwaTer fish musT have also New Zealand from easTern AusTralia and AnTarc - come from This region buT separaTed from ancesTral Tica (see Fig. 1). Prior To The LaTe CreTaceous, a sin - aTherinid species early during The TerTiary To give gle landmass which is now separaTed inTo New rise To a disTincT new form, which invaded The Zealand, New Caledonia, The Campbell PlaTeau, freshwaTers of New Caledonia. The Lord Howe Rise and The Norfolk Ridge, sepa - raTed away, moving norThward and by The MATERIALS AND METHODS Palaeocene The separaTion from AusTralia was com - Five specimens were collecTed from The TonTouTa pleTe (SanmarTin & RonquisT 2004). During mosT