Bioline International Official Site (site up-dated regularly) search for About Bioline All Journals Reports News Faq Ichthyological Bulletin J.L.B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology ISSN: 0073-4381 2000 Ichthyological Bulletin, Number 68, June 2000 AN ANNOTATED CHECKLIST OF THE SPECIES OF THE LABROID FISH FAMILIES LABRIDAE AND SCARIDAE Paolo Parenti1 and John E. Randall2 1 Dipartimento di Scienze dell' Ambiente e del Territorio Università degli Studi di Milano- Bicocca, P. zza della Scienza 1, 20126 Milano, Italy. E-mail: [email protected] 2 Bishop Museum, 1525 Bernice Street, Honolulu, HI 96817, U.S.A. Code Number: fb00001 ABSTRACT Parenti, Paolo and John E. Randall. 2000. An annotated checklist of the species of the Labroid fish families Labridae and Scaridae. Ichthyological Bulletin of the J.L.B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology, No. 68, 97 pages. An annotated checklist of the species of the fish families Labridae and Scaridae is presented; 541 valid species are recognized, including 68 genera and 453 species of labrids and 10 genera and 88 species of scarids. Thirty undescribed species of wrasses and two undescribed parrotfish species are also included. A list of nominal species is given, with their present assignments; nominal species of uncertain status are placed as incertae sedis and listed separately. A list of nomina nuda is also provided. The valid genera and species are listed alphabetically, with their synonyms and distributions. Examination of the original descriptions and type material (when extant) of previously unplaced nominal species of labroid fishes led to identification of 69 new synonyms. The generic names Artisia de Beaufort, 1939 and Emmeekia Jordan & Evermann, 1896 are here recognized as new synonyms of Halichoeres Rüppell, 1835. file:///F|/ARTICOLI%20-%20PROGETTI%20-%20TESI/AR...BROID/Checklist%20Labridae_Parenti%20Randall.htm (1 of 239)12-Dec-11 9:53:35 AM Bioline International Official Site (site up-dated regularly) For the Labridae, 65 new synonyms of valid species are listed. Labrus psittaculus Richardson,1840, a valid species of Pseudolabrus, is a primary homonym of Labrus psittaculus Lacepède, 1801; the next available name for this species is Labrichthys rubicunda Macleay, 1881 and the new combination Pseudolabrus rubicundus is proposed. The following new combinations are included: Pseudojulis inornatus Gilbert, 1890 is a valid species of Pseudojuloides; Xyrichtys perlas Wellington et al., 1994 is a valid species of Novaculichthys. For Scaridae, Sparus abildgaardi Bloch, 1791 is a senior synonym of Sparisoma chrysopterum (Bloch & Schneider, 1801), but a request of the International Commission has been made to reject abildgaardi in order to conserve S. chrysopterum; and Scarus visayanus Herre, 1933 is a new synonym of Scarus tricolor Bleeker,1847. Pseudoscarus microcheilos Bleeker, 1861 is a synonym of Chlorurus strongylocephalus (Bleeker, 1854). Figure 1 INTRODUCTION Checklists of species are invaluable tools in the fields of natural science. They serve to consolidate our level of knowledge and at the same time reveal areas in need of further investigation. They may take the form of listing species for a geographical area or a compilation of the species of a taxonomic unit such as a family. Among the vertebrates, fishes represent a class whose genera and species continue to increase every year. Figure 1 shows the increase in the number of nominal species of Labridae since our system of classification began with Linnaeus (1758). Nelson (1994) estimated that the number of described fish species is approaching 70-80% of the total number expected in the world. The sudden rise in the discovery of new species of fishes beginning about 1960 is correlated principally with the widespread use of scuba gear and ichthyocides which enabled ichthyologists to collect specimens that are not readily taken by ordinary fishing methods. Also of importance has been the greater emphasis among ichthyologists in recent years to revise taxa, thus revealing undescribed species long residing unidentified or misidentified on museum shelves. The valid genera and species in the following checklist of labroid fishes are arranged alphabetically. The family Odacidae is here omitted, as it was recently revised by Gomon and Paxton (1986). Although it is widely accepted that the Labridae, Scaridae and Odacidae represent a monophyletic assemblage, inclusion of these three families into a single family is still a topic of debate. It was first suggested by Gomon and Russell (1981), then proposed by Kaufman and Liem (1982) and followed by some authors (Stiassny & Jensen, 1987; Webb, 1990). Although the Labridae may represent a paraphyletic assemblage (Bellwood, 1994; Gomon, 1997), the conventional family classification is here adopted. Attempts to classify the Labridae and Scaridae into phylogenetically sound subfamilies and tribes have not been satisfactory. Monophyly has not been established for most of these taxa (Westneat, 1993; Nelson, 1994; Gomon, 1997). We present a brief introduction of general morphology and habitat for each family of labroid file:///F|/ARTICOLI%20-%20PROGETTI%20-%20TESI/AR...BROID/Checklist%20Labridae_Parenti%20Randall.htm (2 of 239)12-Dec-11 9:53:35 AM Bioline International Official Site (site up-dated regularly) fishes. Each valid genus and species is accompanied by its synonyms. Details of subsequent designation of type species for the genera are given by Eschmeyer et al. (1997). The author Valenciennes in Cuvier & Valenciennes, 1839 and 1840 is abbreviated as Val., 1839 or 1840. Misidentifications are included only when a later author, upon noting that a misidentification is a new species, named it for the author who made the mis-identification. We have excluded the species named by Curtiss, who privately published in 1938 A Short Zoology of Tahiti, in which 116 new species of fishes were described. Fowler (1949: 127) referred to Curtiss as an untrained novice and placed those Curtiss names that he could recognize in synonymy. He added, "Such a proposal as this author seeks to impose on taxonomic ichthyology hardly invites consideration. However, I have given his references only with the thought of their ultimate disposal rather than they should ever arise to further confuse the nomenclature". We also summarize the distribution of each species. Definitions are needed for the general terms used in these summaries. "Indo-Pacific" refers to the tropical and subtropical regions of the Indian Ocean and western and central Pacific. For the present checklist, this means that a fish is widespread throughout the region from the east coast of Africa to at least the islands of French Polynesia. Although the Red Sea, Hawaiian Islands, Pitcairn Group, and even remote Easter Island are part of the Indo-Pacific region, they are mentioned when included in the species distribution. Our use of "western Pacific" includes a broad distribution from southern Japan to at least the Great Barrier Reef or coast of Queensland. "Western Indian Ocean" implies a distribution along the coast of Africa from Somalia to Mozambique or South Africa, as well as the islands west of the southern tip of India. "East Indies" refers to the islands of New Guinea, Borneo, Indonesia, and the Philippines (and generally to the Solomon Islands to the east and the Nicobars and Andamans to the northwest, though these areas have not been well collected). If a species' distribution extends from the East Indies to adjacent mainland areas of southeast Asia or northern Australia, the term "Indo-Malayan region" is employed. For many species, these summaries are approximations, as our knowledge of their distributions is still fragmentary. DIVISION TELEOSTEI Müller, 1846 ORDER PERCIFORMES Bleeker, 1859 SUBORDER LABROIDEI Bleeker, 1859 Family LABRIDAE Cuvier, 1816 (Wrasses) Wrasses occur worldwide in tropical, subtropical, and temperate seas. Most species (82 %) are found in the Indo-Pacific region, with Australia having the largest labrid fish fauna (about 33% of the species and 70% of the genera). The species of Labridae vary greatly in shape, from slender to moderately deep-bodied, from long-snouted to short-snouted, and with caudal fins from rounded to lunate. Characters that define the family are as follows: Mouth usually terminal, the jaws protractile, the maxilla not exposed when mouth is closed. Teeth in jaws usually conical and separate, those at front generally canines that often protrude; no teeth on roof of mouth except a few in some file:///F|/ARTICOLI%20-%20PROGETTI%20-%20TESI/AR...BROID/Checklist%20Labridae_Parenti%20Randall.htm (3 of 239)12-Dec-11 9:53:35 AM Bioline International Official Site (site up-dated regularly) species of Bodianus; pharyngeal bones united, typically with strong nodular to molariform teeth. Lips often thick. Scales cycloid, usually 24-80 in longitudinal series (species of Hologymnosus with more than 100 scale series); head never fully scaled; lateral line continuous or interrupted. Vertebrae usually 23-42. Dorsal fin contin-uous, without a notch between spinous and soft portions (though soft-rayed part may be higher), with 8-21 spines (usually fewer than 15) and 6- 21 soft rays; anal fin with 2-6 spines (usually 3) and 7-18 rays. The species of Labridae vary greatly in size from 5 to 230 cm total length. Wrasses are diurnal, and although most species bury in sand at night to sleep, many wrasses merely take shelter at night. Most species occur on shallow coral reefs or rocky bottom, though some species of Bodianus, Polylepion and Decodon are found in depths of 200 m or more. Razorfishes (Xyrichtys and Cymolutes) occur over open stretches of sand into which they dive with the approach of danger. All labrids are carnivorous; most feed mainly on a variety of small and large invertebrates, especially hard-shelled molluscs and crustaceans, which they crush with their pharyngeal teeth. A few species prey primarily upon small fishes, while others such as species of Cirrhilabrus, Paracheilinus and Pseudocoris feed on zooplankton. The species of Labroides and the young of some others feed on crustacean ectoparasites and mucus of fishes.