RESEARCH ARTICLE
Halichoeres gurrobyi,
a new labrid fish (Teleostei: Labridae) from Mauritius
in the southwestern Indian Ocean, with a review of
the H. zeylonicus species complex
Benjamin C. Victor
Abstract
The new labrid fish species,
Halichoeres gurrobyi n. sp., is described from
specimens collected in Mauritius, in the southwestern
Indian Ocean. The new species is part of the yellow-striped
initial-phase species complex of Halichoeres,
comprising several species found in the Indo-Pacific,
including the type species for the genus Halichoeres
Rüppell. Two of the closest relatives of H.
gurrobyi also occur in Mauritius, i.e. H. zeylonicus
(the southwestern Indian Ocean [SWIO] genovariant)
and the rare deep-reef H. pelicieri. The initial-phases
of these species are similar and have been confused,
but DNA barcoding clearly shows three distinct DNA
lineages in the SWIO and helps resolve the diagnostic
characters. The terminal-phase (TP) male of the new
species is unknown. The new species is 9% divergent
in the sequence of the mtDNA-barcode marker COI (minimum
interspecific divergence, pairwise; 9.6% K2P distance)
from its nearest relative, H. pelicieri. A
neighbor-joining tree of COI mtDNA sequences is presented
for the species complex.
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CITATION:
Victor, B.C. (2016) Halichoeres
gurrobyi, a new labrid fish (Teleostei: Labridae)
from Mauritius in the southwestern Indian Ocean, with
a review of the H. zeylonicus species complex.
Journal of the Ocean Science Foundation, 22,
10-27.
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.57088
publication date: 5 July
2016
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