RESEARCH ARTICLE
Pomacentrus flavioculus,
a new species of damselfish from Fiji and Tonga (Teleostei:
Pomacentridae)
Gerald R. Allen, Mark V.
Erdmann & P.D. Pertiwi
Abstract
Pomacentrus flavioculus
n. sp. is described on the basis of 140 specimens,
17.1-86.8 mm SL, from Fiji and Tonga in the South
Pacific Ocean. The new species was formerly identified
as Pomacentrus imitator (Whitley, 1964), which
now appears to be restricted to the Coral Sea. The
new species clearly differs from P. imitator
on the basis of several color-pattern features, including
a bright yellow ring that encircles the pupil, a more
uniform body color (vs. contrasting pale scale centers
and dark scale margins), a yellowish caudal fin (vs.
whitish), and a small orange marking immediately above
the large black spot that covers the pectoral-fin
base (absent in P. imitator). Although meristic
and morphological features are broadly similar,
P. flavioculus has a strong mode of 14 anal-fin
rays vs. 15 in P. imitator. Additionally,
P. flavioculus usually has a greater preanal distance
and almost always has a longer pelvic-fin spine. A
phylogenetic analysis of concatenated mtDNA sequences
shows the new species is 8.4% divergent (average pairwise
distance) from its nearest relatives and is part of
the broad Pomacentrus philippinus species complex.
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CITATION:
Allen, G.R., Erdmann, M.V.
& Pertiwi, P.D. (2017) Pomacentrus flavioculus,
a new species of damselfish from Fiji and Tonga (Teleostei:
Pomacentridae). Journal of the Ocean Science Foundation,
28, 22-33.
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.896910
publication date: 22 September
2017
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