8 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.Includes bibliographical references

Archbold Expedition to New Guinea 1936-1937)

Archbold Expedition to New Guinea 1938-1939)

Gilliard New Guinea Expedition 1950-1951)

Gilliard, E. Thomas (Ernest Thomas), 1912-1965.

Nichols, John T. (John Treadwell), 1883-1958.

Ruda, Edwin.

American Museum of Natural History Scientific Publications

AMEIR]ICAN MUSEUMNOVITATESPUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORYCITY OF NEW YORK NOVEMBER 14, 1951 NUMBER 1539FOUR NEW GOBIES FROM NEW GUINEABy J. T. NICHOLSThe following four species of gobies from New Guinea in thecollections of the American Museum of Natural History appearto be undescribed.Mogurnda variegata, new speciesAn eleotrin goby allied to Hlogurnda mogurnda and of muchthe shape figured for Eleotris [Ophiocara] ophiocephalus byGunther (1875, Fische der Sudsee, pl. 112), the profile slantingdown from the somewhat elevated back to the depressed snoutin front of the eye, where it makes an upward angle at theFIG. 1. Mogurnda variegate, type. Standard length, 75 mm.raised nasal bones. Sides variegated with conspicuous darkblotching; dorsals and caudal sharply spotted or barred.Dorsal VII to VIII-12 to 13; anal 13 to 14; scales 36 to 42.Eleven specimens with the same data; 10 of 46 to 81 mm. (stand-ard length) have depth 4 to 4.6; one of 83 mm. is aberrant, backlittle elevated, depth 5.3.2 AMERICAN MUSEUM NOVITATES NO. 1539The shape and color pattern of this fish are not unlike those ofPogoneleotris microps Weber, but its different fin-counts makeits relationship thereto questionable.DESCRIPTION OF TYPE: No. 18576, the American Museum ofNatural History, from Lake Katuba, Delta Division, Papua,New Guinea, 1936, collected by the Richard Archbold NewGuinea expedition.Length to base of caudal, 75 mm. Depth in this length,4.2; head, 3. Eye in head, 5.5; snout, 3.4; maxillary, 2.6;interorbital, 3.5; width of head, 2.2; least depth of peduncle,2.5; its length, 1.6; longest ray of first dorsal, about 3.4; ofsecond dorsal, about 2.8; of anal, 2.8; caudal, 1.6; pectoral,1.9; ventral, 1.9.Dorsal VII-13; anal 13. Scales, 37.Back of head, and body compressed, snout depressed. Eyesmall, touching the upper profile, equidistant from tip of snoutand front of opercle; interorbital flat. Mouth slightly oblique,jaws with pointed teeth in rather broad bands; tongue free,narrowed behind its broad, rounded subtruncate end; lower jawprojecting, its outer teeth exposed when the mouth is closed;maxillary reaching to under front of eye.Dorsals narrowly separated, the first low, second and analhigher, reaching about to middle of peduncle when depressed;caudal rounded; pectorals narrowly rounded; ventrals narrowand pointed with filamentous tips, their base about under that ofpectorals; origin of first dorsal equidistant from the axil of thesecond and front of the eye. Scales on sides moderately large,finely ctenoid; those on top of head appreciably larger, extendforward to a vertical about halfway between the nostrils; oper-cle and preopercle scaled; scales on preopercle and breast ap-preciably smaller than those on the sides; base of caudal withsmall scales.Color pale brownish; top and sides of head with dark spotsand bars, two conspicuous dark stripes backward and somewhatdownward from eye across preopercle, the lower broken pos-teriorly. Sides with bold irregular dark blotches, tending toform a series along the mid-line, ending in a blackest rounded oneat the caudal base, and only a few small faint marks below thisseries; another series along the sides of the back. Dorsals andcaudal sharply spotted or barred with dark; anal dark along thebase and dusky towards the margin; pectoral with a few faint1951 NEW GOBIES FROM NEW GUINEA 3spots or bars, and more conspicuous dark blotch at the center ofits base; ventrals pale.Other specimens have a similar color pattern, back and sidesboldly marked with dark, ventral surfaces usually immaculate;the dark marking tends to be more irregular mottling. Blotch-ing or mottling may occupy more or less area than the paleground color.This form has likely sometimes been confused with M.mogurnda, of which I have compared a 97-mm. specimen from abranch of the Archer River, which empties into the Gulf ofCarpentaria from the Cape York Peninsula. This has an en-tirely differently shaped, broader, less pointed head, shorter anddeeper peduncle; interorbital in head, 2.5, width of head, 1.6,depth of peduncle, 2, its length, 1.8.Gobius tigrellus, new speciesA very small, delicate, fresh-water goby, resembling the sub-genus Rhinogobius in appearance, with good-sized head, slenderelongate body, and bold, unusual color pattern (numerous nar-row black vertical bands crossing the body and caudal fin).Depth 4.7 to 6.5 in standard length; mouth slightly inferior;eyes superolateral, close together, of moderate size. Bodycovered with large, thin, ctenoid scales, head and mid-line ofback before dorsal scaleless. Dorsal about VI-10; anal, 8;scales, 25. Ten specimens with identical data.DESCRIPTION OF TYPE: No. 18574, the American Museum ofNatural History, from Bernhard Camp, Idenburg River, Nether-lands New Guinea (elevation 75 meters), April, 1939, collectedby W. B. Richardson of the Richard Archbold New Guinea ex-pedition.Length to base of caudal, 22 mm. Depth in this length, 4.8;head, 3.1. Eye in head, 3.6; snout, 3; maxillary, 2.4; width ofmouth, 2.4; width of head, 1.4; depth of peduncle, 2; itslength, 1.4; longest dorsal spine, about 3; dorsal ray, about1.7; anal ray, about 2; caudal, 1; pectoral, 1.1; united ventrals,1.4.Dorsal, about VI-10; anal, about 8. Scales, 25.Greatest depth at back of head, which is slightly wider thandeep, body tapering backward to the compressed peduncle;lateral profile slanting up from end of snout to over eye, then4 AMERICAN MUSEUM NOVITATES NO. 1539very slightly convex back to the peduncle; ventrally downabruptly to under front of eye, thence almost straight backward.Head blunt from the side; snout bluntly pointed from above.Eyes superolateral, close together; mouth moderately oblique,lower jaw included, maxillary about to under hind margin ofpupil; teeth in the lower jaw good sized, pointed, slightlycurved, in more than one row; inconspicuous or absent in theupper jaw. Gill membranes adnate to the sides of the broad,flat breast, under the opercle.Fin rays very delicate, fragile, the counts uncertain. Dorsalsclose together, the first low, the second higher, especially poster-iorly, its last ray reaching precurrent caudal rays when de-FIG. 2. Gobius tigrellus, type. Standard length, 22 mm.pressed; anal similar to second dorsal, but less high; caudalpointed and with a few short precurrent rays. Pectorals bluntlypointed, not quite reaching to over anal origin; united ventralsfree from the belly, short, broadly rounded.Body covered with large, thin, ctenoid scales; mid-line of backbefore dorsal, breast, and belly back to the tips of the ventrals,and head scaleless.Color pale, two narrow black streaks backward and downwardfrom the eye across cheek and preopercle; several short blackmarks on top of head, and narrow black vertical stripes acrossthe sides, nine on one side, 10 on the other from behind the pec-toral base to the peduncle, the first extending only part waydown. About seven similar cross stripes on the caudal, becom-ing faint distally, the first at the base of that fin; dorsals con-spicuously barred; ventrals and anal somewhat dusky; pec-torals pale.The nine paratypes range from 15 to 23 mm. standard length;their depth varies from 4.7 to 6.5, cross stripes on sides of bodyfrom 9 to 12.1951 NEW GOBIES FROM NEW GUINEA 5Gobius (Tamanka) fusculus, new speciesA small goby with broad, depressed head; superolateral well-separated eyes; a slightly inferior curved mouth, with maxillaryreaching to under eye; short, free, rounded ventrals, a shortpointed caudal with conspicuous precurrent rays; dorsal VI-9,anal 9 or 10; first dorsal low, but its first ray sometimes (prob-ably a sex character) prolonged in a very long filament; seconddorsal and anal higher, especially their posterior rays; scalesabout 38, moderately large on peduncle and sides, becomingsmall on nape and belly, extending on top of head to about thelevel of the hind margin of eye, present and of moderately smallsize on upper part of opercle, but head otherwise scaleless.Color more or less dusky or paler, with usually dark fins, andwith a rounded dark spot, somewhat smaller than eye, at thebase of caudal above its center. This species would probablybe placed by Herre in his genus Tamanka.DESCRIPTION OF TYPE: No. 16887, the American Museum ofNatural History, from New Guinea, collected by Edwin Ruda,the largest of five specimens.Length to base of caudal, 31 mm. Depth in this length, 5;head, 3.6; initial ray of first dorsal with filament, about 2.8.FIG. 3. Gobius fusculus, type. Standard length, 31 mm.Eye in head, 4; snout, 4, interorbital, 4; maxillary, 2.4; widthof mouth, 2; width of head, 1.2 1/2; depth of peduncle, 1.7; itslength, 1.2; last dorsal ray, about 1.5; last anal ray, about 1.8;caudal, 1.4; pectoral, 1.5; united ventrals, 2.Dorsal, VI-9; anal, 9 1/2. Scales, 38.Upper profile (from the side) flat; head broader than deep,with gibbous cheeks; from above, the front of the head isbroadly rounded, and the narrower body tapers back to the com-pressed peduncle. Eyes superolateral, well separated, the or-bital rim raised above the flat interorbital; mouth slightly in-6 AMERICAN MUSEUM NOVITATES NO. 1539ferior, curved, somewhat oblique, the maxillary to under thefront of pupil. Teeth pointed, of moderate size, somewhatlarger, more conspicuous, and in a broader band in lower than inupper jaw; gill-membranes attached to side of breast undermiddle of opercle.Initial ray of first dorsal ending in a long filament whichreaches back beyond the middle of the base of second dorsal, thefin otherwise low, not reaching front of second dorsal when de-pressed. Second dorsal higher, especially its posterior rays, thelast with filamentous tip reaching precurrent caudal rays; analsimilar to second dorsal but somewhat lower; caudal short,pointed, with conspicuous precurrent rays. Pectorals pointed;united ventrals free from belly, short, rounded behind.Scales of moderate size but not noticeably ctenoid on peduncleand sides, becoming small on front of back, nape, and belly, verysmall, scarcely appreciable in front of pectorals and ventrals.Scales on top of head reach about to opposite the hind border ofeye, a few most anterior (above the cheeks) slightly larger thanthose on nape, and about equal to those on operculum, the upperpart of which is scaled. Head otherwise scaleless.General color in preservative dusky, paler below, fins alldarker, more or less blackish. Faint, irregular dark markingsalong the upper sides and onto the peduncle; and a rather con-spicuous rounded blackish spot, smaller than eye, at the base ofthe caudal, above its center.The four paratypes measure 22 to 28 mm. standard length,and in two of these (of which the largest is one) the dorsal fila-ment is short, not reaching the front of second dorsal. On theother hand, in one of 22 mm. it reaches almost the middle ofsecond dorsal base, in another of the same size about to its origin.These four smaller specimens have paler bodies than the type,the markings more distinct, posteriorly tending to form obliquestreaks downward and forward, the last one or two meetingnear the mid-line of body, a faint dark streak downward andbackward at a wide angle. They also tend to have a darkshade downward and backward from the caudal spot, and curv-ing towards a dark mark at the lower front base of the fin.Gobius (Glossogobius) brunnoides, new speciesA dark-colored, fresh-water goby, superficially, at least, resem-bling Gobius brunneus of Japan, from a stream in New Guinea1951 NEW GOBIES FROM NEW GUINEA 75200 feet above sea level. We have no Japanese material forcomparison, but there is every probability that it is different.Lower jaw appreciably projecting; tongue with a slight but defi-nite notch in the center of its front margin. Caudal bluntlypointed, about as long as head. Dorsal VI-10 to 11; anal, 8.Scales about 33; a variable number, 20 or fewer, before the dor-sal. Five specimens, 52 to 82 mm. standard length, with thesame data.DESCRIPTION OF TYPE: No. 19468, the American Museum ofNatural History, from Nondugl, Wahgi Valley, New Guinea(altitude 5200 feet), July, 1950, collected by E. Thomas Gil-hard.Length to base of caudal, 82 mm. Depth in this length, 5;head, 3.5. Width of head, in head, 1.5; eye, 5; snout, 3; in-FIG. 4. Gobius brunnoides, type. Standard length, 82 mm.terorbital, 4.6; maxillary, 2.2; length of peduncle, 1.4; itsdepth, 3; longest ray of first dorsal, 2.5; of second dorsal, 1.7;of anal, 1.8; caudal, 1; pectoral, 1.2; ventral, 1.5.Dorsal rays, VI-10 1/2; anal, 8. Scales, 33; about 20 pre-dorsal.Head broader than deep; the body narrowing and well com-pressed from the origin of the second dorsal backward. Eyessuperolateral, impinging on the upper profile; interorbitalslightly concave. Snout blunt. Maxillary curving downwardto under the middle of eye; lower jaw projecting. Teeth intwo well-spaced series, of about equal size in each in the upperjaw, the outer larger, and the inner smaller than this, in thelower. Tongue broad, narrowing slightly to its subtruncateend, each side of which is convex, with a slight but definitenotch in the middle between. Gill-membranes adnate to thesides of the isthmus (where concealed by the branchiostegals)under the preopercle.8 AMERICAN MUSEUM NOVITATES NO. 1539First dorsal low; dorsal fins close together, their posteriorrays longest; anal similar to second dorsal, shorter, beginningfarther back and ending farther forward, its base five-seventhsthat of the latter; caudal bluntly pointed, its precurrent rays ina fleshy keel; pectoral rounded; united ventrals a short, free,rounded disk, two-thirds as broad as long.Scales finely ctenoid; on the top of the head, where they aresmaller, they reach to over the margin of the preopercle; headotherwise scaleless; small, weak, embedded scales only on thebreast before the pectorals. Conspicuous lines of raised porescross the sides of the head (cheek and preopercle) backwardfrom at or near the maxillary: an uppermost obliquely upwardto the hind part of the eye; then two close together but divergingabruptly, converging more gradually farther back; below theseone which forks; and a lowermost fifth is simple and a littleshorter.Color dusky brownish, paler along the ventral line; the sideswith fine faint pale barring (from paler centers or bases of thescales). Fins in general darker; first dorsal with a blackishblotch at its hind margin.Glossogobius koragensis Herre (1935, Field Mus. Nat. Hist.,zool. ser., vol. 18, p. 419) from the Sepik River, New Guinea,north versus south of the mountain barrier, is described with arelatively longer head and higher scale-counts, especially thepredorsal. The five specimens of G. brunnoides are consistentin their dusky brownish color, with slightly paler marks on thescales, and in having eight anal rays, that fin appreciably shorterthan the second dorsal characters that distinguish them frommost of their close relatives.Mr. Gilliard tells me that these specimens were taken from astretch of stream with narrowly wooded banks, quiet at thisseason, with rapids above and below it, but a stream that istransformed annually during the rainy season into a mountaintorrent. It rises in the southern watershed of the BismarckMountains and drains into the Wahgi River near Nondugl.The Wahgi is a tributary of the Purari, which in turn drains intothe Gulf of Papua.The figures of the four type specimens were drawn by Mrs.Evelyn Hastings.

New gobies from New Guinea

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