Hemibagrus hoevenii (Bleeker, 1846)

Ng, H. H. Tan H. H., 2000, The cat ® shes (Teleostei: Siluriformes) of central Sumatra, Journal of Natural History 34, pp. 267-303 : 271

Hemibagrus hoevenii (Bleeker, 1846)

Bagrus Hoevenii Bleeker, 1846a: 154 (type locality: Batavia [= Jakarta], Java).

Material examined. BATANG HARI DRAINAGE: ZRC 39130 (1), 143.3 mm SL. ZRC 41526 (2), 232.7, 244.4 mm SL.

Remarks. See Kottelat and Lim (1995a) for a redescription and discussion of the species. According to ®shermen and our ®eld observations, H. hoevenii appears to be a species found only in the lower reaches and estuaries of large rivers.

Hemibagrus a. nemurus (Valenciennes, in Cuvier and Valenciennes, 1840) Bagrus nemurus Valenciennes , in Cuvier and Valenciennes, 1840b: 423; Bleeker, 1854: 65;

1858a: 25; 1860a: 46. Hemibagrus nemurus: Bleeker, 1862: 55 , pl. 69; Hubrecht, 1887: 11. Macrones nemurus : GuÈ nther, 1864: 80; Volz, 1904: 468; 1907: 166; Weber and de Beaufort,

1913: 341; Hardenberg, 1931: 117; 1934: 306. Macrones bleekeri (non Day, 1877) Volz, 1903a: 556 (type locality: Palembang, Sumatra);

1904: 468; 1907: 167. Mystus nemurus: Kottelat et al., 1993: 66 , pl. 31.

Material examined. BATANG HARI DRAINAGE: ZMA 121.820 (10), 130.0±296.0 mm SL. ZRC 29513±29531 (19), 204. 0±380 mm. ZRC 38663 (1), 113.9 mm SL. ZRC 38975 (4), 136.6±206.0 mm. ZRC 39151 (1), 114.5 mm SL. ZRC 39181 (1), 132.4 mm SL. ZRC 40534 (3), 230.8±247.9 mm SL. ZRC 42261 (10), 71.7±123.2 mm SL. ZRC 42554 (17), 33.5±70.0 mm SL.

INDRAGIRI DRAINAGE: ZRC 39032 (7), 122.6±227.0 mm SL. ZRC 39073 (2), 62.4, 71.3 mm SL.

Remarks. The material identi®ed as Macrones bleekeri Volz, 1903 (currently Hemibagrus bleekeri ) from Sumatra appears to be a species distinct from H. nemurus s. str. (from Java), on the account of its relatively longer adipose-®n base (length of adipose-®n base 2.54±3.34 times adipose maximum height vs 2.15±2.76) and genital papilla in males (papilla reaching to base of ®rst anal-®n ray vs not reaching). Comparison with the types of some other nominal species of Hemibagrus , viz. Macrones bo Popta, 1904, M. fortis Popta, 1904 , M. fortis var. capitulum Popta, 1904 , M. howong Popta, 1904 , and H. kajan Popta, 1904 , reveal that these are all likely to be conspeci®c with M. bleekeri Volz, 1903 . As already noted by Ng and Ng (1995), Macrones bleekeri Volz, 1903 , however, is a primary junior homonym of Macrones bleekeri Day, 1877 , a species belonging to Mystus s. str. According to Article 60 (b) of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (1985), if a rejected junior homonym has one or more available synonyms, the oldest of these becomes the valid name of the taxon. In the present instance, all of Popta’s nominal species qualify as the oldest available synonym; under Article 24 of the Code, we hereby designate H. fortis as having priority over the other names. Pending a revision of the H. nemurus species-group, we tentatively identify this species as H. a. nemurus .