Apogonichthys taeniopterus Bleeker, 1860

Russell, Barry C., Fraser, Thomas H. & Larson, Helen K., 2010, Castelnau’S Collection Of Singapore Fishes Described By Pieter Bleeker, Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 58 (1), pp. 93-102 : 94

Apogonichthys taeniopterus Bleeker, 1860

Apogonichthys taeniopterus Bleeker, 1860c , is based on two coloured paintings by Castelnau, No. 93 (Fig. 1) and No. 342 (Fig. 2). No specimen has been identified that served as the basis for the painting and the name. Bleeker provided a brief accurate description in Latin and made no additional comments. In his second description of this species, Bleeker (1874) changed two words in an otherwise repeated Latin description. These words were “3” for “4” in reference to the body depth (about 4.3 from the painting) in its length and “vitta” for “fascia”. He provided remarks on characteristics he could not determine, such as number of fin elements, number of scales and an uncertainty of serration on the preopercle. He believed the colour pattern was distinct. In Bleeker’s “Atlas Ichthyologique” (1871–1876: 99) the Latin description reverted to the original description although his remarks were brief with sentences lifted from his 1874 paper. In the latter two publications Bleeker placed this species just after Apogon truncatus Bleeker, 1854 .

Weber & de Beaufort (1929) listed Bleeker’s name as a synonym of Apogon ellioti Day, 1875 , pre-empted by Apogon taeniopterus Bennett, 1836 . Gon (1996) reviewed the nomenclature of Apogon truncatus in his revision of the species group but did not list or comment on Bleeker’s taeniopterus . Gon’s illustration and Day’s (1875) description and figure of Apogon ellioti agree on most of the diagnostic colour pattern present in Castelnau’s painting. The figure of Apogon truncatus in Bleeker’s Atlas (1871–76, Pl. 41) shows only the distal dark portion of the first dorsal fin. No other markings were present.

We conclude that Apogonichthys taeniopterus is a junior synonym of Apogon truncatus , agreeing with Weber & de Beaufort. Gon (1996) treated Apogon truncatus in the subgenus Jaydia , now recognized as a genus, removing the homonym conflict with Bennett’s description of Apogon taeniopterus in 1836.