A new species of bonefish (Albuliformes: Albulidae: Albulinae) from the eastern Pacific Ocean, Albula gilberti, is described. Previously referred to as Albula sp. A, A. gilberti is distributed throughout the Gulf of California, Mexico to the coastal waters of California, USA. Presently, it can be distinguished from its closest relative, A. esuncula (= Albula sp. C) from the tropical eastern Pacific, solely by differences in mitochondrial DNA (cytochrome b) gene sequences. No diagnostic external morphological characters have yet been found that can reliably separate the two distinct genetic lineages although some differences in placement of pelvic-fin tip relative to vent may exist. Differences detected in counts of meristic characters should be tested in larger series of specimens, especially of A. esuncula. Available evidence also suggests that A. gilberti and A. esuncula show a parapatric distribution, with an area of sympatry in the southern Gulf of California. We also provide a description of adults of A. esuncula (the original description was based solely on two larvae), review the current nomenclature of the subfamily Albulinae, and discuss the role and justification of using molecular data for diagnosing cryptic species.
They are known from few specimens (13, 6, and 9, respectively), and are endemic to the Pacific slope of Mexico, where each of the species seems to be restricted to a small geographic area (Campbell and Flores-Villela, 2008;Reyes-Velasco et al., 2010; Reyes-Velasco pers. comm.).The original description of the Sinaloan Long-tailed Rattlesnake, C. stejnegeri, by Dunn (1919), was based on 2 specimens collected at or near Plomosas, Sinaloa (erroneously spelled as "Plumosas"; all reptiles collected from Colomos to Plomosas by Nelson and Goldman in 1897 were labeled as Plomosas [Goldman, 1951]; holotype USNM 46586, paratype 46460). Dunn (1919) strongly suspected from its description that the specimen collected by Alphonse Forrer from Ventanas, Durango and reported by Boulenger (1896) under the name C. tigris (1883.4.16.64 BM), also belonged to C. stejnegeri. Gloyd (1940) subsequently examined all 3 specimens available at that time and confirmed that Boulenger´s "C. tigris" should be assigned to C. stejnegeri.
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