Jayaramichthys gen. nov.

(Figs 1–3, 33)

ZooBank registration: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 84D53B59- 4ABB-4F76-B370-F9A510BB29F2.

Type species: Arius leptonotacanthus Bleeker, 1849 .

Diagnosis

Bony bridge formed by lateral ethmoid and frontal equally represented (15, 0> 1); accessory tooth plates large, longitudinally elongate (60, 3> 4); face for articulation of transcapular process with basioccipital large and depressed (85, 0> 1); transcapular process at right angle to body axis (86, 0> 1); transcapular process depressed (88, 0> 1); bony blade connecting posterolateral processes of urohyal absent (159, 0> 1); median crest associated with neural spine of fourth vertebra very high (202, 0> 1). Ambiguous optimization: Space between transcapular process and otic capsule very small (89, 1> 2); contact area between interopercle and opercle no more than one-half of interopercle posterior face (131, 1> 0).

Etymology

Named for the Indian ichthyologist Kottore Chidambaram Jayaram (1926–2011) who contributed greatly to our understanding of the taxonomy, evolution, and biogeography of ariids from the Indian subcontinent. Gender: masculine.

Included species

Jayaramichthys leptonotacanthus Bleeker, 1849 .

Habitat and distribution: Brackish and marine waters, Southeast Asia (Fig. 24).

Remarks

Jayaramichthys is established to accommodate Jayaramichthys leptonotacanthus, not examined in a previous morphological study (Marceniuk etal. 2012),buttreatedasvalid(as Ariusleptonotacanthus) in a previous molecular study in Betancur-R.(2009).