Asterropteryx

Abstract: The small eastern Atlantic-Mediterranean gobiid genus Vanneaugobius Brownell, 1978 (type-species: V. dollfusi Brownell, 1978) is redefined to include new skeletal and head lateral-line criteria. Provisionally, V. dollfusi is retained as distinct from V. pruvoti (Fage, 1907), the latter being now recorded from the Canary Islands, and a new species, V. canariensis, is described from the Canaries and Guinea. Originally associated with the Indo-Pacific Valenciennea and Asterropteryx, Vanneaugobius is actually synapomorphic with two other small eastern Atlantic genera, Wheelerigobius Miller, 1981, and Odondebuenia De Buen, 1930, in virtual separation of the pelvic fins and a trend for modification of upper and lower scales at the caudal fin origin. Vanneaugobius occupies an intermediate position between the two former genera in head lateral-line specialization. The genus-group shares a modal vertebral number of 28 with the north-eastern Atlantic-Mediterranean Gobius-Thorogobius complex.

Abstract: A new gobiid fish, Asterropteryx atripes, is described on the basis of eight specimens from Iriomote-jima Island, Ryukyu Islands, and El Nido, Philippines. It differs from its congeners by having the following combination of characters: 3rd spine of first dorsal fin long, filamentous, distal tip usually over end of 2nd dorsal fin base when appressed in both sexes; pelvic fins almost separated, innermost (=5th) segmented rays connected by rudimentary low membrane between bases, and no frenum; 4–7 short spines on posterior margin of preopercle (the uppermost spine usually just behind the cephalic sensory canal pore N); eye large, 32.3–35.8% of head length; enlarged haemal arches on 1st two caudal vertebrae; a distinct black band from posterior margin of eye to caudal fin base (indistinct in dark-phase individuals); black pelvic fin (vivid in dark-phase individuals); numerous minute bright blue spots on head and body in life; no distinct dark spots on head and body; iris entirely reddish-brown or dusky (bright white ventrally in pale-phase individuals) when alive or fresh, and entirely black in preservation, without white transverse bar on middorsal surface; hovering habit. The new species appears to be most closely related with the other only known hovering species, A. striata; the latter is readily distinguished from the former in having no long, filamentous dorsal spine; semitranslucent pelvic fin; and a series of small black spots along dorsal fin base and dorsal edge of caudal peduncle. Asterropteryx contains two distinct groups, and the monophyly of the genus is open to question.

Abstract: Asterropteryx gubbina sp. nov. is described from Silhouette island, Seychelles. It is close to the widespread Indo-Pacific species A. semipunctata but differs in (1) having a dark spot and vertical bar on the caudal peduncle, terminated by a white area, (2) lacking a filamentous spine in the first dorsal fin and (3) having 12 second dorsal spines.

Abstract: The middle Miocene Badenian sediments of the western Central Paratethys are particularly rich in highly diverse associations of gobies, represented by their otoliths. This diversity is caused by significant variations in palaeoenvironmental conditions over short distances. Here we review the rich goby otolith collections from the Carpathian Foredeep in southern Poland and southern Moravia and from the northern Vienna Basin in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. A total of 31 gobiid species are recognised in the Badenian, with six species new to science: Gobius supraspectabilis n. sp., Chromogobius? primigenius n. sp., Odondebuenia agiadiae n. sp., Vanderhorstia prochazkai n. sp., Hesperichthys iugosus n. sp. and Knipowitschia polonica n. sp. The fossil otolith-based genus Hoeseichthys n. gen. is established to account for the deep-water species H. preaclarus (Prochazka, 1893) and H. laevis (Weiler, 1942), the latter of which is primarily found in the North Sea Basin. In addition, the rich material now available offers an opportunity to redefine certain species from the area that were described by Prochazka between 1893 and 1900. The whereabouts of Prochazka's original material is unknown, with the exception of a few undescribed specimens that were recently discovered and are included in this study. Many of the species described by him have proven enigmatic in taxonomic otolith research, and, unfortunately, some of them cannot be redefined even now and will have to remain nomina dubia until his type specimens are re-discovered or declared lost. This study aims at establishing a baseline for the assessment of the evolution of gobies in the Mediterranean and the Paratethys after the separation of these seas, which were still interconnected during the early Badenian. Our study reveals that all major Atlanto-Mediterranean goby lineages, represented by a number of mostly persistent genera, were present in the Badenian. The first taxa of the Ponto-Caspian goby lineages are unambiguously represented only since the late Badenian. The Badenian of the Central Paratethys also contained a few goby lineages which are now not found around Europe but do exist in the Indo-West Pacific (i.e., the Asterropteryx lineage and the Priolepis lineage). There are indications that the identified genera of the Asterropteryx lineage (Amblyeleotris, Vanderhorstia) may have already lived in commensal association with alpheid shrimps at that time. The Paratethyan events during the middle Miocene are reflected in a moderate faunal change in the gobiid composition from the early Badenian to the late Badenian and a major faunal change following the BadenianSarmatian Extinction Event.