A new species of Phyllophichthus Gosline, 1951 (Actinopterygii, Ophichthidae) from Taiwan

By

Hibino, Yusuke
Endo, Shunsuke
Ho, Hsuan-Ching

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2024

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

1220

Pages

35--44

Subjects

Biodiversity , Fish fauna , Ichthyology , marine species , nasal tube , snake eel , taxonomy

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1220.126594

 

Abstract

A unique species of the flappy-snake eel genus, Phyllophichthus diandrussp. nov., is described based on a single specimen (270 mm in total length) collected from Dong-gang, southwestern Taiwan. The new species possesses several characters that are distinct from the only other species in the genus, Phyllophichthus xenodontus. Phyllophichthus diandrussp. nov. can be easily distinguished from P. xenodontus by having two papillae inside of nasal tube (vs three in P. xenodontus), 25 branchiostegal rays (vs 29), the dorsal-fin origin positioned behind the tip of the pectoral fin (vs not behind, usually above mid-pectoral fin), and the absence of the maxillary teeth (vs present). The relationship between Phyllophichthus and Leiuranus is discussed based on generic and morphological features.