Chirodactylus Gill

Ludt, William B., Burridge, Christopher P. & Chakrabarty, Prosanta, 2019, A taxonomic revision of Cheilodactylidae and Latridae (Centrarchiformes: Cirrhitoidei) using morphological and genomic characters, Zootaxa 4585 (1), pp. 121-141 : 128-129

Genus Chirodactylus Gill

( Fig. 4 )

Chirodactylus Gill, 1862: 119 [Type-species: Cheilodactylus antonii Valenciennes, 1833 (= junior synonym of C. variegatus Valenciennes, 1833 ) by original designation]. Palunolepis Barnard, 1927: 456 [Type-species: Cheilodactylus grandis Günther, 1860 by original designation].

Etymology. Gender masculine. Derived from the Greek cheir (hand) and daktylos (finger) for the long, unbranched lower pectoral fin rays observed in this genus.

Inclusive species. C. variegatus (Valenciennes) (type species), C. brachydactylus (Cuvier) , C. grandis (Günther) , C. jessicalenorum Smith , C. spectabilis (Hutton)

Diagnosis. Chirodactylus can be diagnosed by the following combination of characters: dorsal-fin elements XVII–XVIII, 22–31; anal-fin elements III, 7–10; pectoral-fin rays 14 with ventral 6–7 unbranched and thickened; lateral-line scales 46–56. Body ovoid and compressed; dorsal profile of head slight to moderate; dorsal-fin increasing gradually in length to 5 th or 6 th spine, decreasing thereafter; no bony processes on frontal bones medially to orbit or anterior to maxilla.

Habitat and distribution. Chirodactylus brachydactylus , C. grandis , and C. jessicalenorum occur off the coast of South Africa to 240m ( Smith 1980). Chirodactylus variegatus occurs in the southeast Pacific off the coast of Chile and Peru, and C. spectabilis occurs in the north island of New Zealand, Tasmania, and occasionally in southern mainland Australia.

Comments. Smith (1980) noted the convoluted taxonomic history of the genus, which is briefly described here. Gill (1862) erected Chirodactylus to include C. antonii Valenciennes 1833 (type species), C. variegatus Valenciennes 1833 , and C. grandis Günther 1860 . Barnard (1927) later described Palunolepis with P. grandis as the type species. Chirodactylus variegatus was later considered a senior synonym to C. antonii (de Buen 1959) . In a review of Australian cheilodactylids, Allen and Heemstra (1976) regarded several genera, including Chirodactylus (but not Palunolepis ), as junior synonyms to Cheilodactylus . Chirodactylus was later resurrected in a comparison of South African morwongs by Smith (1980), who included C. brachydactylus , C. jessicalenorum , C. grandis , and C. variegatus . However, the latter species was not recognized by all (see list of recognized species in Eschmeyer et al. 2019). Recently this genus was synonymized once again with Goniistius , similarly to the classification proposed by Allen & Heemstra (1976), due to low resolution in the topology recovered by Kimura et al. (2018). The genus is re-elevated and expanded here to include C. variegatus (senior synonym of C. antonii , type species) and C. spectabilis based on strongly supported molecular evidence and morphological characters. Chirodactylus is superficially similar to Goniistius , but can be distinguished by a shallower dorsal head profile, a lack of bony processes on the frontal bones and maxilla, and a lack of a greatly enlarged 4 th dorsal-fin spine.

Material examined. C. brachydactylus , USNM 93652 [n=1, South Africa: Western Cape] , USNM 153508 [n=2, South Africa: Western Cape] , ANSP 97440 [n=1, Mozambique: Maputo Bay ]; C. jessicalenorum , USNM 221145 [n=3, South Africa: Natal ]; C. spectabilis , NMV A22205 [n=1, Australia: New South Wales: Green Cape ] , NMV A14 [n=1, Australia: Victoria] , NMV A44 [n=1, Australia: Victoria: Welshpool ] , NMV A24816 [n=1, Australia: Victoria: Little Ram Head Point ]; C. variegatus , CAS 8447 [n=4, Peru: Lima: Bay of Callao] , USNM 77517 [n=1] , USNM 128061 [n=4] .

Figures

FIGURE 4. Chirodactylus brachydactylus, ANSP 97440, 116.9mm SL.