Ocellus-bearing Neobythites species (Teleostei: Ophidiidae) from the West Atlantic with description of a new species

Open access articleThree species of the ophidiid genus Neobythites containing ocelli in the dorsal fin are known from the West Atlantic: Neobythites gilli Goode and Bean 1885, N. ocellatus Günther 1887 and N. monocellatus Nielsen 1999. In the year 2000, 18 specimens of Neobythites were caught on the upper continental slope off eastern Brazil. This is the first documented record of a Neobythites specimen off Brazil since the holotype of N. ocellatus was caught in 1873. Seventeen of the specimens are referable to N. ocellatus and one to N. monocellatus. Until now the distribution of N. ocellatus was considered to be from off Atlantic Florida, the Caribbean Sea and then a gap of 4500 km to the type locality off Brazil. However, the holotype and the 17 specimens differ from the more northerly recorded specimens in pattern and number of spots and ocelli on the dorsal fin. The 18 Brazilian specimens have two distinct ocelli, one near the origin of the dorsal fin and one above the midpoint of the fish, and further back occasionally a small, black spot, while the northern specimens occasionally have a small, black spot near the origin of the fin, a distinct ocellus above the midpoint and up to three ocelli further posteriorly. Consequently a new species, N. multiocellatus, is described based on 59 specimens from the Caribbean Sea to off Atlantic Florida. The record of the N. monocellatus specimen extends its distribution about 3000 km southwards. A comparison of the four ocellus-bearing species from the West Atlantic is made

Photography-based taxonomy is inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences

The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; Nemésio 2009a–b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009; Cianferoni & Bartolozzi 2016; Amorim et al. 2016). This question was again raised in a letter supported by 35 signatories published in the journal Nature (Pape et al. 2016) on 15 September 2016. On 25 September 2016, the following rebuttal (strictly limited to 300 words as per the editorial rules of Nature) was submitted to Nature, which on 18 October 2016 refused to publish it. As we think this problem is a very important one for zoological taxonomy, this text is published here exactly as submitted to Nature, followed by the list of the 493 taxonomists and collection-based researchers who signed it in the short time span from 20 September to 6 October 2016

A new species of the genus Verilus (Teleostei, Percomorpha, Acropomatidae) from Brazil

FIGURE 2. A. Verilus costai sp. nov., holotype, NPM 6028, 76.2 mm SL. B. Verilus pseudomicrolepis (Schultz, 1940), USNM 436691, 88.0 mm SL. Scale bar = 10 mm.Published as part of Schwarzhans, Werner W., Mincarone, Michael M. & Villarins, Bárbara T., 2020, A new species of the genus Verilus (Teleostei, Percomorpha, Acropomatidae) from Brazil, pp. 589-596 in Zootaxa 4751 (3) on page 593, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4751.3.11, http://zenodo.org/record/371464

FIGURE 2. Neobythites gilli, 104 in Ocellus-bearing Neobythites species (Teleostei: Ophidiidae) from the West Atlantic with description of a new species

FIGURE 2. Neobythites gilli, 104 mm SL, ZMUC P771224

A new deep-sea species of Barathronus Goode & Bean from Brazil, with notes on Barathronus bicolor Goode & Bean (Ophidiiformes: Aphyonidae)

A new species of Barathronus (Ophidiiformes: Aphyonidae) is described from a single, mature male specimen (101 mm SL) bottom trawled on the continental slope of Rio Grande do Norte, northeastern Brazil, between 1,964 and 2,045 m depth. The new species is diagnosed among congeners by the following combination of characters: peritoneum transparent, deep-set eyes not visible, eight fangs on vomer, anal fin rays 69, predorsal length 42.0% SL, preanal length 49.5% SL, penis long, slender, and lacking a pair of lobes at its base, and presence of a ventral flexure of the anterior 2-3 vertebrae. Additionally, morphological data of three specimens of Barathronus bicolor collected in Brazilian waters are presented and compared with those from 51 specimens from the western Central Atlantic

A new deep-sea species of Barathronus Goode & Bean from Brazil, with notes on Barathronus bicolor Goode & Bean (Ophidiiformes: Aphyonidae)

A new species of Barathronus (Ophidiiformes: Aphyonidae) is described from a single, mature male specimen (101 mm SL) bottom trawled on the continental slope of Rio Grande do Norte, northeastern Brazil, between 1,964 and 2,045 m depth. The new species is diagnosed among congeners by the following combination of characters: peritoneum transparent, deep-set eyes not visible, eight fangs on vomer, anal fin rays 69, predorsal length 42.0% SL, preanal length 49.5% SL, penis long, slender, and lacking a pair of lobes at its base, and presence of a ventral flexure of the anterior 2-3 vertebrae. Additionally, morphological data of three specimens of Barathronus bicolor collected in Brazilian waters are presented and compared with those from 51 specimens from the western Central Atlantic