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To the Taxonomy of the Stargazers of the Genus Uranoscopus of the Indo-Pacific Waters with a Description of Three New Species (Uranoscopidae)

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An Erratum to this article was published on 01 April 2023

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Abstract—

An overview of the stargazers of the genus Uranoscopus of the Indo-Pacific region is presented. Based on the study of the original materials of P. Bleeker, it has been established that the name U. oligolepis has so far been incorrectly attributed to another species described in this paper as U. alius sp. nov. The type series of U. oligolepis was found to be consist of two species. A specimen from the waters of Japan, belonging to the species known as U. chinensis, for which the name U. oligolepis has priority, is selected as the lectotype. The two surviving paralectotypes of U. oligolepis (from Java and Sumatra) turned out to be conspecific to the species U. cognatus. The ontogenetic variability of this species has been characterized for the first time. Two new species, U. batrachops and U. oculocirrhis spp. nov, are described from the waters of India. It is proposed to place the known species of the genus within five species groups; three more species occupy a separate position. A for identification of the species of the genus Uranoscopus of the Indo-Pacific is presented for the first time.

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Notes

  1. Compiled according to the paralectotypes of U. oligolepis, the characters of the specimen SL 83 mm are given first, followed by the differing characters of the specimen SL 65 mm in parentheses. Differing characters available for assessment in the holotype of U. cognatus are shown in square brackets.

  2. Two more characters (reduction of supracleithral spines and the dorsal edge of the operculum descending backward) listed by Kishimoto (2001) for this species are subject to individual variability according to the author’s data and are not suitable for diagnostic purposes. In addition, the presence of “scapular spines” is indicated already in the original description of U. cognatus (Cantor, 1849. P. 1005).

  3. Fricke et al. (2013) indicate U. affinis as an Indian Oceanic and U. tosae as a West Pacific species, but in a later work Fricke (2018) lists U. affinis for both the Pacific and Indian Ocean.

  4. Since Vilasri (2013) accepts both U. chinensis and U. oligolepis as valid species and indicates only one pair of basipterygial spines (“pelvic spurs”) for the specimens of “U. oligolepis” studied by him, it is quite obvious that under this name he gives some other species of stargazers.

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ACKNOWLEGEMENTS

The author is deeply indebted to Esther Dondorp (The Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden—RMNH), James Maclaine (Natural History Museum, London—BMNH), Guy Duhamel, Jonathan Pfliger, Zora Gabsi (Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris—MNHN), Hiromitsu Endo (Kochi University—BSKU) and Ronald Fricke (Lauda-Königshofen, Germany) for providing materials from under their care, radiographs and photographs of fish.

Funding

The work was carried out within the framework of the topic of State Assignment no. 0089–2021–0006; description of ontogenetic variability and of new species was supported by the Russian Science Foundation, grant no. 19–14–00026.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences (IEE RAS), Moscow, Russia

    A. M. Prokofiev

  2. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences (IO RAS), Moscow, Russia

    A. M. Prokofiev

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Correspondence to A. M. Prokofiev.

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Translated by S. Avodkova

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Prokofiev, A.M. To the Taxonomy of the Stargazers of the Genus Uranoscopus of the Indo-Pacific Waters with a Description of Three New Species (Uranoscopidae). J. Ichthyol. 61, 655–679 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0032945221050131

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