Dactyloscopus

Abstract: Sand stargazers (Dactyloscopidae: Blennioidei) are small, inconspicuous fishes inhabiting sandy nearshore or estuarine environments in the tropical and warm temperate waters of the New World. Nine genera and 41 species are currently recognized. A parsimony analysis of the type species of eight of the nine genera was undertaken for the purpose of inferring dactyloscopid phylogeny, employing 56 potentially informative characters (only Storrsia olsoni, currenty known from only one specimen, was not examined). A single topology was generated (consistency index of 0.64), with the following nested structure: (Heteristius (Platygillellus ((Dactyloscopus (Myxodagnus, Dactylagnus)), (Leurochilus (Gillellus, Sindoscopus )). The phylogeny of dactyloscopids may be of broader interest in reconstructing familial ancestral character states in the analysis of blennioid evolution. The low consistency index confirms for dactyloscopids the prevalence of homoplastic evolution within blennioids.

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