224 
PACIFIC SCIENCE, VoL XII, July, 1958 
TABLE 1 
Tooth Counts in Certain Species of Uropterygius 
Species 
Locality 
Length of 
Specimen 
in Inches 
Teeth on One Side 
On outer 
row 
above 1 
On inner 
row 
above 1 
On outer 
row 
below 
On inner 
row 
below 
U. sealei 
Oahu 
36 
10 
10 
15 
5 
U. tigrinus 
Johnston 
27 
18 
8 
17 
6 
U. polyspilus 
Oahu 
17 
35 
7 
30 
8 
U. xanthopterus 
Line Is. 
9.5 
29 
10 
23 
6 
U. micropterus 
Gilberts 
9-5 
43 
15 
40 
11 
U. knighti 
Tuamotus 
7 
29 
12 
38 
8 
1 These counts include both premaxillary and maxillary teeth within the rows indicated. 
of the two species is entirely different. In the 
lower jaw of U. polyspilus the inner row of teeth 
extends about as far back as the outer, and the 
inner rows on both jaws as well as some of the 
teeth on the premaxillary and vomer are defi- 
nitely enlarged and fanglike. 
Uropterygius fijiensis Fowler and Bean 
TYPE LOCALITY: Fiji. The type and only 
known specimen has been briefly redescribed 
by Schultz (1943: 24, 26, fig. 3f). 
Judging from the descriptions the salient 
features of this species are: anus slightly be- 
hind middle of length; eye forward of middle 
of the moderate gape; rear nostril over front 
border of pupil; color pattern of five or six 
irregular rows of brown spots, more or less 
joined, and about eight or nine somewhat 
broken lengthwise bands on the sides of the 
head. The bands on the head would appear to 
be unique among Central Pacific species of 
Uropterygius. 
The color pattern is somewhat reminiscent 
of U. polyspilus and U. tigrinus but the tooth 
pattern would seem to place it in an entirely 
different portion of the genus. 
Uropterygius supraforatus (Regan) 
Fig. 1 c 
TYPE LOCALITY: Savaii, Western Samoa. 
synonym: U. dentatus Schultz, with John- 
ston Island as type locality. Four specimens, 
7 to 16 inches long, examined from the 
Gilberts, Johnston Island, and Honolulu. 
The similarity between U. supraforatus , U. 
dentatus , and U. fuscoguttatus has been previ- 
ously noted (Gosline, 1955: 155). There, in 
the absence of adequate comparative material, 
U. supraforatus and U. dentatus were both pro- 
visionally recognized. Subsequent examina- 
tion of two Gilbertese specimens failed to 
show any basis for separating the two, which 
are herewith synonymized. 
Schultz (1953) allocates specimens to both 
U. supraforatus and U. dentatus. His differenti- 
ation of the two species is based on color dif- 
ferences and on a gap between the vomerine 
and premaxillary teeth in U. dentatus . As to 
this gap, I find it no greater in our Johnston 
Island specimen topotypic for U. dentatus than 
for the Gilbertese specimens that appear to be 
typical of U. supraforatus. In color, the most 
significant difference between the Johnston 
and Hawaiian specimens at hand and those 
from the Gilberts is the heavier spotting on 
the former; but these specimens are also 
larger, and other species of Uropterygius also 
become more heavily pigmented with in- 
creasing size. 
Uropterygius fuscoguttatus Schultz 
Fig. Id 
type locality: Bikini. 
material examined: Numerous specimens 
from Hawaii and Johnston Island. 
About the only differences between this 
species and U. supraforatus seem to be those 
mentioned in the key. In the presence of 
