Pomacanthus paru (Bloch 1787)

Ceríaco, Luis M. P., Santos, Bruna S., Semedo, Thiago B. F., Garcia, Lucas Canes & Moreira, Cristiano Rangel, 2023, The fish collection of José Mariano da Conceição Veloso (1742 - 1811) and the beginning of ichthyological research in Brazil, with a taxonomic description of the extant specimens, Zootaxa 5391 (1), pp. 1-85 : 65

Pomacanthus paru (Bloch 1787)

Extant specimens: MCUC ZOO.0000014 ( Fig. 51 ).

Classification on the specimen: “P. Th. Chaetodon arcuatus ” (see comments).

Common names on the specimen (Portuguese/Tupi): “Frade Franciscano”/ “Guareruá”.

Comments: There are two reidentifications for this specimen. First a paper tag with the name “ arcuatus ” was glued over the original species name on the herbarium sheet. Subsequently, “P. Th. Chaetodon ” was crossed out and Pomacanthus paru is written in pencil below the name. Since the genus Pomacanthus Lacepède 1802 was described 12 years after this collection arrived in Portugal, it is likely that the last reidentification was not done by Veloso. This species is named Chaetodon monachus in the Ichthyologia Fluminensis manuscript, a name not available at the time, suggesting that Veloso intended to name this species. If that is the case, the original specific name, under the paper tag is likely “ monachus ”. Chaetodon arcuatus Linnaeus 1758 (= Pomacanthus arcuatus ) is a similar species to Pomacanthus paru that also occurs in Rio de Janeiro. The Ajuda’s inventory ( Ferreira 1794) lists 24 herborized specimens of Chaetodon , however no specimen with any name used for this species is found in either of the transference lists to the Academia das Ciências de Lisboa or the University of Coimbra. In some parts of Brazil the common name of this species is “frade”. Pomacanthus paru occurs in the Western Atlantic from New York ( USA) to São Paulo ( Brazil) (Menezes & Figueiredo 1985; Burgess 2002a).

Figures

FIGURE 51. Pomacanthus paru (Bloch 1787), MCUC ZOO.0000014, 130 mm SL. Photo by Luis M. P. Ceríaco.