Genera of Acanthuridae — Randall 
363 
Colocopus Gill, 1885. U. S. Natl. Mus., Proc. 
7: 277, 279- (Type species, Colocopus lamb- 
durus Gill = Teuthis hepatus Linnaeus, as 
restricted by Cuvier and Valenciennes.) 
Gunther (1873: 115) and subsequent au- 
thors continued to use Acanthurus for the one 
known species of the genus Far acanthurus 
after its proposal by Bleeker. The name Para- 
canthurus was unnoticed until Fowler (1926: 
139) pointed out that it preceded Colocopus 
Gill. 
Genus Zebrasoma Swainson 
Harpurus Swainson, 1839- Nat. hist. . . . fishes 
. . . Vol. 2, p. 256. (Not Harpurus of Fors- 
ter, 1778.) 
Zebrasoma Swainson, 1839- Nat. hist. . . . 
fishes . . . Vol. 2, p. 256. (Type species by 
monotypy, Acanthurus velifer Bloch.) 
Scopas Kner, 1865-67. Reise . . . fregatte 
Novara . . . Fische. P. 212. (Type species, 
Acanthurus scopas Cuvier and Valenciennes.) 
{Scopas of Bonaparte, 1831, a nomen nudum . ) 
Laephichthys Ogilby, 1916. Queensland Mus., 
Mem. 5: 173. (Type species, Acanthurus 
rostratus Gunther.) 
Bleeker (1851) and other authors after him 
persisted in using the generic name Acan- 
thurus for species of Zebrasoma , probably with- 
out the realization that the latter had been 
proposed. 
Ogilby established the genus Laephichthys 
for the species Acanthurus rostratus Gunther on 
the basis of the unusually long snout and 
thick dorsal spines as shown in a painting 
by Garrett. Examination of 13 specimens, 
among them two collected by Garrett from 
the Society Islands and probably the ones 
from which the painting was made, revealed 
considerable variation in snout length. Some 
specimens had shorter snouts than the average 
snout length of Zebrasoma flavescens (Bennett) 
or Z. scopas (Cuvier). None had thick dorsal 
spines. No other differences even approaching 
generic level could be found between Z. ros- 
tratus and species of Zebrasoma ; thus Lae- 
phichthys is not well founded. 
Jordan and Jordan (1922: 66) used the name 
Scopas as a subgenus for Z. flavescens to em- 
phasize its distinctness from Zebrasoma {Ze- 
brasoma) veliferum (Bloch). Z. gemmatum 
(Cuvier and Valenciennes) tends to invalidate 
this subgeneric concept, for it has a tooth 
structure and fin ray counts approaching that 
of veliferum , yet it lacks the extremely elevated 
dorsal fin of this species and has a body form 
more like other Zebrasoma. 
Von Bonde (19-34: 449, fig. 3) described a 
new species of acanthurid, Hepatus coccinatus , 
from Zanzibar. His description and photo- 
graph leave little doubt that his specimens are 
Zebrasoma veliferum , although he gave the 
dorsal spine count as VII instead of the 
usual IV. 
Genus Acanthurus Forskal 
Hepatus Gronow, 1763. Zoophylacium . . . p. 
113. (Nonbinominal.) 
Teuthis Linnaeus, 1766. Syst. nat. Ed. 12, vol. 
1, p. 507. (Linnaeus included in Teuthis 
several acanthurids and a siganid under the 
one name hepatus. In Opinion 93 of the 
International Commission on Zoological 
Nomenclature the siganid, T. javus, was 
fixed as type.) 
Acanthurus Forskal, 1775. Descr. animalium. 
P. 59- (Type species by subsequent desig- 
nation (Jordan 1917: 33), Chaetodon sohal 
Forskal.) 
Harpurus Forster, 1778. Enchiridion hist. nat. 
... p. 84. (Type species, Harpurus fasciatus 
Forster = Chaetodon triostegus Linnaeus.") 
[Reference after Jordan, 1917.] 
Rhombotides Walbaum, 1792. {ex Klein, 1775, 
nonbinominal.) Petri Artedi . . . ichthyo- 
logiae pars iii, p. 582. 
Aspisurus Lacepede, 1802. Hist. nat. poiss. 
Vol. 4, p. 556. (Type species, Chaetodon 
sohal Forskal.) 
