Lioscorpius Guenther

Peter R. Last, Gordon K. Yearsley & Hiroyuki Motomura, 2005, Lioscorpius trifasciatus, a new scorpionfish (Scorpaeniformes: Setarchidae) from the South-West Pacific Ocean., Zootaxa 1038, pp. 11-22 : 11-12

[[ Lioscorpius Guenther ]]

The setarchid genus Lioscorpius Guenther, 1880 is represented by a single species, Lioscorpius longiceps Guenther, 1880 , which has been collected in numerous Indo -West Pacific localities from Japan to Western Australia (Eschmeyer and Collette, 1966; Poss, 1999, 2000; Hutchins, 2001). Diagnostic characters of Lioscorpius include: a greatly reduced first spine of the lacrimal (preorbital) bone; 2 spines and 6 rays in the anal fin; 23-25 pectoral-fin rays; the last 2-3 dorsal-fin spines small and frequently buried; body depth 21- 28% SL; and interorbital width 6-7% SL (Eschmeyer and Collette, 1966).

During 1985-86, two exploratory trawl surveys of the Coral Sea were conducted using the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) research vessel, FRV Soela. Amongst numerous new and interesting fishes discovered on these cruises were 8 unidentified scorpionfish specimens collected from south of the Saumarez Reef and east of Hinchinbrook Island at depths of 300-319 m. Since the Coral Sea expedition, additional material from further south has been collected. A closer examination of these specimens, and comparisons with material of L. longiceps from Western Australia, revealed them to be a new species. However, some characteristics of the new Lioscorpius , such as the presence of three anal-fin spines typical of other setarchids, differ from Eschmeyer and Collette’s (1966) generic diagnosis.

The Coral and Tasman Sea specimens are described in detail below as a new species, and the generic diagnosis of Lioscorpius is modified to account for intrageneric variation. Comments are also made on the biogeography of Lioscorpius .