REVIEW OF OPHIDIOID FISH GENUS OLIGOPUS COHEN 5 



spelling is an unjustified emendation of Oligopodus Lacepede, 1800, 

 proposed for Conjpliaena velifera Pallas, and therefore, Oligojpus is 

 available from 1810 with Risso as the author. 



Swainson (1839) placed 0. ater in Pteridium Scopoli, and Filippi (1856) 

 proposed the generic name Gadopsis (already twice preoccupied) for 

 the species. Filippi and Verany (1859) then accepted Pteridium 

 ScopoU (proposed for Coryphaena velifera Pallas) for 0. ater and have 

 been followed by numerous authors. Gill {in Goode and Bean, 1896) 

 proposed Grammonus for Oligopus ater Risso, with no comment. 



Verater was first proposed by Jordan (1919a) as a substitute for 

 Pteridium Filippi and Verany although these authors plainly indicated 

 they were following Swainson, who used Pteridium Scopoli; however, in 

 a later publication during the same year, Jordan (1919b) presented 

 Verater as a replacement name for Gadopsis Filippi, with 0. ater 

 Risso as the type species. 



Heller and Snodgrass compared Eutyx with Grammonus Gill and 

 separated the two on the grounds that the former genus lacked an 

 opercular spine, had a double lateral line, and had large muciferous 

 canal openings on the head. Actually, Eutyx may have its small 

 opercular spine hidden or exposed (Bohlke, 1957, and the present 

 author) ; its lateral line (described below under Oligopus diagrammus) 

 is similar to that in other species of the genus, and all of the species 

 here referred to Oligopus have canal openings on the head. 



Bathystorreus was proposed for a species originally described in 

 Benthocometes , where it obviously did not belong. The single known 

 specimen is in bad condition ; however, an X-ray photograph showing 

 the abdominal vertebrae gives reason enough to place this species 

 in Oligopus. 



Species. — 'Six species are referred herein to Oligoyus. Although 

 the available material of most is limited, a few suggestions concerning 

 relationships and distributions can be presented. 0. claudei from 

 the tropical western Atlantic is distinct from all other Oligopus. 

 Distinct preopercular spines and numerous head pores are its distin- 

 guishing characters. 0. diagrammus is known from Galapagos, 

 Guadalupe, and lower Baja California. The material suggests the 

 presence of a species complex or a group of subspecies. 0. diagrammus 

 has a reduced number of head pores but high fin ray and vertebral 

 counts. Apparently it is most distantly related phylogenetically 

 to the western Atlantic species. The other species are 0. longhursti 

 (herein described as new), known from tropical West Africa; 0. ater 

 from the Mediterranean; 0. robustus from Japan, the Philippines, 

 and the Indian Ocean; and 0. waikiki from Hawaii. The latter, wide- 

 ranging group of four species is intermediate phylogenetically as 



