Cynoglossus bilineatus (La Cepede, 1802)

Kottelat, Maurice, 2013, Nomenclature And Identity Of The Tongue Soles Paraplagusia Bilineata, “ Cynoglossus Bilineatus ” And Paraplagusia Blochii (Teleostei: Pleuronectiformes), Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 61 (2), pp. 763-766 : 764

“ CYNOGLOSSUS BILINEATUS ”

The fish referred to as “ Cynoglossus bilineatus ” by authors is said to have been described by La Cepède (1802: 659, 663) as Achirus bilineatus . There is no indication that La Cepède had examined material. His account included references to: (1) “ Pleuronectes bilineatus . Linné, édition de Gmelin”; (2) “Bloch, pl. 188”; (3) “Pleuronecte, sole à deux lignes. Bonnaterre, planches de l’Encyclopédie méthodique”.

Source (1) is Gmelin (1789: 1235). It explicitly refers to Bloch (1787: 29, pl. 188). It includes no information not already appearing in Bloch’s text and therefore seems based exclusively on Bloch’s data. Moreover, it is not known that Gmelin had examined any material. Source (2) is plate 188 of Bloch (1787); there is no mention of the text. Source (3) is Bonnaterre (1788: 79, pl. 91 fig. 377). The figure is a black and white copy of Bloch’s figure. The description is that given by Bloch. There is also explicit reference to the French edition of Bloch (1788: 21), but no mention of inner anatomy.

In conclusion, La Cepède’s account of Achirus bilineatus is based only on Bloch’s Pleur. bilineatus . Achirus bilineatus was not, therefore, a new species but a new combination of Pleur. bilineatus . As a result, the name bilineatus is not available for a species of Cynoglossus . Menon (1977: 36) listed the synonyms of his “ Cynoglossus bilineatus ”. Among these, the earliest available name for this species is Plagusia quadrilineata Bleeker, 1851 , thus the valid name of the species is Cynoglossus quadrilineatus (Bleeker, 1851) .