A group of Paracheilinus filamentosus in situ. Photo credit: Gerry Allen.
The flasher wrasse genus Paracheilinus has never had a formal taxonomic revision, that is until now. In the latest paper published in the Journal of the Ocean Science Foundation, Gerry Allen and Mark Erdmann attempt at untangling the messy nature of this genus, and, in doing so, have christened three new species from the Indonesian archipelago. The seventeen other species in the genus are also listed in chronological order, complete with biogeographical distributions and phylogenetic relationships. The paper is free access, and for that reason, we’ll only briefly summarise the new species descriptions. Paracheilinus alfiani
Paracheilinus alfiani. Male in nuptial display. Photo credit: Ned DeLoach.
The first of three to be added to the genus Paracheilinus is P. alfiani. This species most closely resembles P. rennyae from Komodo, but unlike the former, is restricted to the nearby island of Lembata, Indonesia. Phylogenetic analysis as well as biogeographical distribution patterns reveal that P. alfiani forms part of a species group together with P. rennyae and P. angulates. The distribution of P. alfiani is quite curious, being so closely adjacent to its presumed sister species, P. rennyae. Biogeographically, there is probably very little separating the two species. It is quite bizarre that two species would assume allopatric distributions on a narrow portion of this island group of Komodo (rennyae) and Lembata (alfiani). It is possible that P. alfiani is a natural hybrid between P. rennyae with a southernly waif of P. angulatus, or even P. togeansis. Other photos of this species online depicts a slight filament on the edges of each caudal fin lobe, which might be suggestive of genetic input from angulatus or togeansis. P. alfiani is known from two male specimens, and was named in honour of Rahmad “Yaan” Alfian, the collector of the holotype.
Biogeography of the angulatus group. Photo credit: Allen, G.R., Erdmann, M.V. & Yusmalinda, N.L.A. (2016) Review of the Indo-Pacific Flasherwrasses of the genus Paracheilinus (Perciformes: Labridae), with descriptions of three new species. Journal of the Ocean Science Foundation, 19, 18–90.
Paracheilinus paineorum and P. xanthocirritus
Paracheilinus paineorum, Sulawesi. Note the red dorsal filaments. Photo credit: Gerry Allen.
Paracheilinus xanthocirritus, Anambas Is. Photo credit: Gerry Allen.
The single, widely distributed taxon that is Paracheilinus filamentosus has, unsurprisingly, been split.… More:
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