4 
Fishery Bulletin 96(1 ), 1 998 
Table 1 
Status of specific and subspecific names and new combinations assigned to western Atlantic species of Symphurus in chronologi- 
cal order. (Original authorship, generic placement, and spelling are maintained in the table.) 
Taxon 
Status 
Plagusia Browne, 1756 
nonbinomial (rejected) 
Pleuronectes plagiusa Linnaeus, 1766 
S. plagiusa 
Pleuronectes plagusia Browne, 1789 
(rejected) 
Pleuronectes plagusia Schneider, in Bloch and Schneider, 1801 (after Browne) 
S. plagusia 
Achirus ornatus Lacepede, 1802 
nomen dubium 
Plagusia ornata Cuvier, 1816 
IS. tessellatus 
Plagusia tessellata Quoy and Gaimard, 1824 
S. tessellatus 
Plagusia brasiliensis Agassiz, 1829 
S. tessellatus 
Plagusia fasciata DeKay, 1842 
S. plagiusa 
Aphoristia ornata Kaup, 1858 (n. comb.) 
IS. tessellatus 
Glossichthys plagiusa Gill, 1861 (n. comb.) 
S. plagiusa 
Plagusia plagiusa Gill, 1864 (n. comb.) 
S. plagiusa 
Aphoristia nebulosa Goode and Bean, 1883 
S. nebulosus 
Aphoristia diomedeana Goode and Bean, 1885 
S. diomedeanus 
Aphoristia pusilla Goode and Bean, 1885 
S. pusillus 
Aphoristia marginata Goode and Bean, 1886 
S. marginatus 
Aphoristia pigra Goode and Bean, 1886 
S. piger 
Acedia nebulosa Jordan and Goss, 1889 (n. comb.) 
S. nebulosus 
Aphoristia fasciata (not DeKay) Goode and Bean, 1895 
S. tessellatus 
Symphurus jenynsi Evermann and Kendall, 1907 
S. jenynsi 
Symphurus bergi Thompson, 1916 
S. jenynsi 
Symphurus trewavasae Chabanaud, 1948 
S. trewavasae 
Symphurus sumptuosus Chabanaud, 1948 
S. diomedeanus 
Symphurus minor Ginsburg, 1951 
S. minor 
Symphurus parvus Ginsburg, 1951 
S. parvus 
Symphurus pelicanus Ginsburg, 1951 
S. pelicanus 
Symphurus pterospilotus Ginsburg, 1951 
S. diomedeanus 
Symphurus civitatum Ginsburg, 1951 
S. civitatium 
Symphurus urospilus Ginsburg, 1951 
S. urospilus 
Symphurus ommaspilus Bohlke, 1961 
S. ommaspilus 
Symphurus rhytisma Bohlke, 1961 
S. rhytisma 
Symphurus arawak Robins and Randall, 1965 
S. arawak 
Symphurus kyaropterygium Menezes and Benvegnu, 1976 
S. kyaropterygium 
Symphurus ginsburgi Menezes and Benvegnu, 1976 
S. ginsburgi 
Symphurus meridionalis Lema and Oliveira, 1977 
S. jenynsi 
Symphurus oculellus Munroe, 1991 
S. oculellus 
Symphurus caribbeanus Munroe, 1991 
S. caribbeanus 
Symphurus billykrietei n. sp. 
S. billykrietei 
Symphurus stigmosus n. sp. 
S. stigmosus 
gions of the New World. They described no new spe- 
cies, but contrary to Jordan and Goss (1889), S. 
pusillus, S. diomedeanus, S. elongatus, and S. 
atricaudus were recognized as distinct species. It is 
evident, however, that these authors were still in- 
fluenced by earlier conclusions presented in Jordan 
and Goss (1889) because Jordan and Evermann hy- 
pothesized that S. pusillus and S. diomedeanus were 
closely related to S. plagiusa (Linnaeus). A more re- 
cent hypothesis (Munroe, 1992) indicates that S. 
pusillus belongs to a species group distinct from that 
including S. diomedeanus and S. plagiusa. 
Four additional nominal species of Symphurus 
from western South Atlantic localities were described 
during the first half of this century. In 1907, 
Evermann and Kendall described S. jenynsi from 
Argentina, and Thompson (1916) described S. bergi 
(=S. jenynsi) from the same geographic area. Later, 
Chabanaud (1948a) described S. trewavasae and S. 
sumptuosus ( =S . diomedeanus ) from off Brazil and 
Uruguay, respectively. 
In 1951, Ginsburg published the first revision of 
western Atlantic tonguefishes since that of Jordan 
and Evermann (1898). He recognized 15 nominal 
species of western Atlantic tonguefishes, including 
six previously undescribed. Five of the new species 
( S . civitatum, S. minor , S. parvus, S. pelicanus, and 
S. urospilus) were described on the basis of material 
