Five new species of Western Atlantic stardrums, Stellifer (Perciformes: Sciaenidae) with a key to Atlantic Stellifer species

Abstract

Five new species of Stellifer are described from the Caribbean Sea and tropical southwestern Atlantic. Among the previously recognized stelliferine genera, Stellifer is unique by having a pair of variably developed appendages on the posterior margin of the anterior gas chamber, which is lacking in Bairdiella, Corvula, Elattarchus, Odontoscion and Ophioscion. However, recent genetic studies indicated that Stellifer and Ophioscion are not monophyletic. The genus Ophioscion Gill, 1863 is recognized herein as a junior synonym of Stellifer Oken, 1817. Of the five new species described, Stellifer cervigoni n. sp., S. collettei n. sp., and S. musicki n. sp. have a pair of knob-like diverticula along the posterior margin of the anterior gas chamber, which is absent in S. macallisteri n. sp., and S. menezesi n. sp. Stellifer cervigoni n. sp. is found along the southern Caribbean coast of Colombia and Venezuela; it can be distinguished from other species by having a jet-black roof of mouth and inner opercular lining. Stellifer collettei n. sp. is found from Surinam to southeastern Brazil, while S. musicki n. sp. is endemic to northern Brazil. Stellifer macallisteri n. sp. has an oblique, terminal mouth and it is found in Colombia, Venezuela and Dominican Republic. Stellifer menezesi n. sp. has a subterminal mouth and is found from northeastern to southeastern Brazil. These results bring the number of valid species of Stellifer in the Atlantic to 18, and a key to the identification of these species is included.

First Records with Biological Notes of Umbrina ronchus, Valenciennes, 1843 (Osteichthyes, Sciaenidae) in the Strait of Sicily (Central Mediterranean Sea)

“…Further, patterns of rostral pores are of importance when distinguishing the Umbrina spp. [17,18,20]. Overall, the morphology and the livery of the U. ronchus specimen caught in the Strait of Sicily were consistent with the description by Tortonese [16] and Chao and Trevanas [17].…”

“…[17,18,20]. Overall, the morphology and the livery of the U. ronchus specimen caught in the Strait of Sicily were consistent with the description by Tortonese [16] and Chao and Trevanas [17]. In particular, their livery appeared gray with golden reflections, with neither oblique brown stripes nor markings.…”

“…In particular, this FRA is characterized by coastal terrigenous mud bottoms [15] and low fishing pressure due to the bottom trawling ban implemented in July 2019. The taxonomical identification was carried out at the laboratory of CNR-IRBIM of Mazara del Vallo according to Tortonese [16] and Chao and Trevanas [17].…”

Espécies de peixes do estuário do Rio Paraíba, nordeste do Brasil

“…The species listed in the Table 1 were identified following Figueiredo & Menezes (1978, , Britski et al (1984), Allen (1985, Harrison (2002), Marceniuk (2005), Marceniuk & Menezes (2007), McBride et al (2010, Lucena & Soares (2016), Marceniuk et al (2017Marceniuk et al ( , 2019bMarceniuk et al ( , 2020, Chao et al (2021). The fish species nomenclature followed Fricke et al (2022) and the taxonomic order according to Nelson et al (2016), except for Triportheidae and Labridae.…”

Species delimitation by DNA barcoding reveals undescribed diversity in Stelliferinae (Sciaenidae)

“…Phylogenetic analyses based on multilocus data have shown that Stellifer and Ophioscion are not monophyletic, as suggested previously, and thus require a detailed taxonomic review [ 7 , 9 , 10 ]. More recently, Chao et al [ 8 ] recognized Ophioscion as a junior synonym of Stellifer based on morphological analysis, which means that Stelliferinae is currently made up of only five genera ( Stellifer , Bairdiella , Odontoscion , Corvula , and Elattarchus ). Chao et al [ 8 ] also described five new Stellifer species– Stellifer cervigoni , Stellifer collettei , Stellifer musicki , Stellifer macallisteri , and Stellifer menezesi , the latter previously identified as lineage II of Ophioscion punctatissimus Meek and Hildebrand, 1925 by Silva et al [ 10 ].…”