Dicotylichthys punctulatus Kaup, 1855

Leis, Jeffrey M., 2006, Nomenclature and distribution of the species of the porcupinefish family Diodontidae (Pisces, Teleostei), Memoirs of Museum Victoria 63 (1), pp. 77-90 : 86

Dicotylichthys punctulatus Kaup, 1855

Dicotylichthys punctulatus Kaup, 1855: 230 (Cape of Good Hope, South Africa and Mauritius, but these localities are apparently incorrect, see below)*

Atopomycterus diversispinis Bleeker (ex Verreaux), 1865: 49 ( Australia)*

Dicotylichthys myersi Ogilby, 1910:18 (Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia)*

* extant type

Based on over 50 lots from throughout the range, including all extant types. Kaupʼs (1855, ref. 2571) description is not detailed, but the extant specimens upon which he based his description are all of this distinctive species.

Although Bleekerʼs 1865 description of Atopomycterus diversispinis is brief, and not detailed, the syntypes are extant and readily identified as D. punctulatus Kaup (1855, ref. 2571; see Leis and Bauchot, 1984, ref. 12539).

Dicotylichthys myersi Ogilby (1910 ref. 3288) was said by Ogilby to differ from D. punctulatus by the relative size of the abdominal spines, but the syntypes are well within the range of relative spine size of D. punctulatus .

Distribution. South-eastern Australia.

From Moreton Bay, Qld to Bass Strait.

Kaup (1855, ref. 2571) reported that his type specimens came from the Cape of Good Hope and Mauritius. Subsequently, Günther (1870, ref. 1995) reported that the only specimen in BMNH identified as being from Mauritius was of questionable locality, and that the sole specimen from the Cape of Good Hope (which he identified as the ʻtypeʼ of D. punctulatus ) was “presented by Sir A. Smith”. Smith was a medical doctor resident in Cape Town who procured many specimens from passing ships, and then provided them to the British Museum, where they were generally assumed to have originated in Cape Town (Bass et al., 1975, ref. 7409). Thus, there is good reason to question the locality data of Smith specimens (Bass et al., 1975, ref. 7409) if other evidence is inconsistent with them. Other than this BMNH specimen, I have been unable to find any institution (including RUSI) that has specimens of D. punctulatus from anywhere but Australia, where it is abundant within its range. Thus, I conclude that Sir A. Smith procured his specimen from a passing ship, not from the Cape of Good Hope, and that this species is endemic to south-eastern Australia.