92 BULLETIN 214, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Scarus scaber Cuvier and Valenciennes 



Plates 3,c; 18,a 



Scarus scaber (in part) Cuvier and Valenciennes, Histoire naturelle des poissons, 

 vol. 14, p, 239, 1839 (type locality: Mauritius; type material examined in Mus. 

 Nat. Hist. Nat. Paris, Cat. No. 588, standard length 185 mm., is herewith 

 selected as the lectotype; see S. taeniurus p. 61). 



Callyodon mutabilis Gray, Catalog offish collected and described by L. T. Gronow, 

 p. 86, 1854 (type locality: Amboina; preoccupied by Scarus mutabilis Lowe 

 1841 now in the genus Sparisoma). 



Psuedoscarus caudofasciatus Giinther, Catalogue of the fishes in the British Mu- 

 seum . . . , vol. 4, p. 238, 1862 (type locality: Mauritius), Playfair and 

 Giinther, Fishes of Zanzibar . . . , p. 108, 1865 (Zanzibar). 



Pseudoscarus flavomaculatus Bliss, Trans. Soc. Roy. Arts Sci. Maurice, vol. 13, 

 p. 57, 1883 (type locality; Mauritius; cotype, USNM 153567). 



Callyodon zonularis Jordan and Seale, Bull. U. S. Bur. Fish., vol. 25 (1905), p. 321, 

 fig. 60. 1906 (type locality: Pago Pago, Samoa; holotype USNM 51752, para- 

 types 51821, 51825, 51827, 51828, 126618, and 163939). 



Pseudoscarus caudofasciatus and var. zonularis Giinther, Journ. Mus. Godeflfroy, 

 vol. 8, p. 312, pi. 153, figs. A?, B, 1909. 



Callyodon fuscocuneus Fowler, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, vol. 87, p. 158, 

 fig. 128, 1935 (type locality: Bangkok, Siam). 



Callyodon caudofasciatus J. L. B. Smith, Rhodes Univ. Ichthy. Bull. No. 1, p. 10, 

 1956 (based on Gunther 1862). 



Callyodon scaber J. L. B. Smith, Rhodes Univ. Ichthy. Bull. No. 1, p. 10, pi. 41,g, 

 1956 (east coast of Africa from Natal northwards). 



This species is characterized by having 5 or 6 median predorsal 

 scales, 3 rows of scales on cheek, and 2 or 3 scales in ventral (third) 

 row; ii,12 pectoral rays; teeth white; 4 or 5 dark bars separated by 

 pale interspaces on back; no black spot at dorsal edge of pectoral base; 

 and lips covering or nearly covering the teeth. 



The species scaber (= mutabilis), oviceps, pectoralis, and schlegeli 

 have been considerably confused. Among these, schlegeli is dis- 

 tinguishable from the others in having 4 median predorsal scales and 

 only 2 rows of scales on the cheek. The others have 5 to 7 median 

 predorsal scales and 3 rows of scales on the cheek. Gray (loc. cit.) 

 says of his Colly odon mutabilis, "Color toitius dilute fuscus, in lateribus 

 fasciae quinque trans versales obscurioris coloris," indicating that he 

 had this species. S. scaber has 5 dark saddles on the back separated 

 by pale interspaces, none of which slant strongly forward, being in- 

 stead nearly vertical. S. oviceps has 2, sometimes 3, narrow pale bars 

 that slant forward as they descend ventrally. The teeth of scaber 

 and oviceps are white, those of S. pectoralis are greenish, 



Pseudoscarus pentazona Bleeker resembles S. scaber but differs in 

 having 4 median predorsal scales, 2 rows of scales on the cheek, and a 

 black pectoral spot; it is a synonym of S. venosus Cuvier and Valen- 

 ciennes, and is not very closely related to this species. 



