On the Status of Trimma tevegae and Trimma caudomaculata (Percomorpha: Gobiidae)

Richard Winterbottom
aqua, International Journal of Ichthyology, pp. 51-56, Volume 10, Issue 2 – July 2005
Abstract
There has been no consensus in the recent literature as to whether the goby Trimma caudomaculata Yoshino and Araga, 1975 is a species distinct from Trimma tevegae Cohen and Davis, 1969. The purported differences between the two species, involving cheek and opercular scalation and colour pattern, were examined in representative type specimens of the two nominal species, as well as for subsamples from the extensive western Pacific portion of the range of T. tevegae. I conclude that these two nominal species represent the same taxon, and therefore that T. caudomaculata is a junior subjective synonym of T. tevegae.
REFERENCES
Akihito, H. Hayashi & T. Yoshino. 1984. Suborder Gobiodei. In: The Fishes of the Japanese Archipelago (English text). (Eds. Masuda H., Amaoka K., Araga C., Uyeno T., & T. Yoshino.) Tokai University Press, Tokyo, pp 236-238.
Akihito, Sakamoto, K., Ikeda, Y. & Sugiyama, K. 2002. Gobioidei. In: Fishes of Japan with pictoral keys to the species. (Ed. T. Nakabo): 1139-1310; 1596-1619. English edition, Vol. II, Tokai University Press, Tokyo.
Allen, G. R., Steene R. C., Humann P. & N. De Loach. 2003. Reef Fish Identification. Tropical Pacific. New World Publications, Florida. 457 pp.
Cohen, D. M. & W. P. Davis 1969. Vertical orientation in a new gobiid fish from New Britain. Pacific Science, 23: 317-324.
Hayashi, M. & T. Shiratori. 2003. Gobies of Japanese Waters. Hankyu Books, Osaka, Japan. 224 pp. (In Japanese).
Kobayashi, Y. 1994. Micronesian Reef Fishes. Tokai University Press, Tokyo, 160 pp. (In Japanese).
Kuiter, R. H. 1992. Tropical Reef Fishes of the Western Pacific. Indonesia and Adjacent Waters. PT Granmedia Pustaka Utama, Jakarta. 314 pp.
Masuda, H. & G. R. Allen. 1987. Sea Fishes of the World. Yama-kei Publishers, Tokyo. 527 pp. (In Japanese).
Randall, J. E., Allen, G. R. & R. C. Steene. 1997. Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea. University of Hawai‘i Press, Hawai‘i. 557 pp. Rev. Ed.
Saruwatari, T., Lopez, J. A. & T. W. Pietsch, 1997. Cyanine blue: a versatile and harmless stain for specimen observation. Copeia, 1997 (4): 840-841.
Senou, H., Suzuki, T., Shibukawa, K. & K. Yano. 2004. A Photographic Guide to the Gobioid Fishes of Japan. Heibonsha Publishers, Japan. 534 pp. (In Japanese).
Winterbottom, R. 1995. Red Sea gobiid fishes of the genus Trimma, with the description of two new species. Revue française Aquariologie, 22: 93-98.
Winterbottom, R. 1996. A new species of gobiid fish Trimma benjamini from the western Pacific. Revue française Aquariologie, 23: 57-60.
Yano, K. 1998. Tropical Under-Water. Heibonsha Publishers, Japan. 84 pp. (In Japanese).
Yoshino, T. & Araga, C. 1975. Trimma caudomaculata Yoshino and Araga. In: Coastal Fishes of Southern Japan. (Ed. H. Masuda, C. Araga & T. Yoshino): 272. Tokai University Press, Tokyo. 382 pp, p. 272.
No Comment