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| Roa haraguchiae
Uejo, Senou & Motomura, 2020
photo by A. Mishiku.
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Abstract
A new butterflyfish, Roa haraguchiae, is described on the basis of eight specimens (63.2–92.8 mm standard length: SL) collected from Japan and the Philippines. The new species is most similar to Roa rumsfeldi Rocha, Pinheiro, Wandell, Rocha and Shepherd 2017, known only from the holotype from the Philippines. Both species are distinguished from all other congeners by the following combination of characters: long snout (12.6–14.1% of SL), lesser head depth (46.2–54.9%), short postorbital area (12.1–14.1%) and pectoral fin (27.9–32.4%), and second and third bands on the body without blackish edges. The new species is however easily distinguished from R. rumsfeldi (based on the original description and an additional Philippine specimen) in having 5–8 non-pored lateral-line scales (vs. 13 scales in the latter), 11 or 12 scale rows above the lateral line (vs. 8), 22–28 scale rows below the lateral line (vs. 19), 10–12 scale rows under the longer axis of a black blotch on the dorsal-fin soft-rayed portion (vs. 8), the anterior margin of the second body band not reaching anteroventrally to the pelvic-fin spine base, and the pelvic-fin spine and first soft ray white (vs. black).
Keywords: Taxonomy, Roa rumsfeldi, East China Sea, Morphology, Description
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| Underwater photographs of Roa haraguchiae sp. nov. from Japan. KPM-NR 79633B, ca. 2.5 cm SL, 67 m depth (right side, reversed), Suruga Bay, Shizuoka
(photo by A. Mishiku - Specimen not collected).
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| Underwater photographs of Roa haraguchiae sp. nov. from Japan. KAUM–II. 76, ca. 8.0 cm TL, 70 m depth, off Sakurajima, Kagoshima Bay, Kagoshima
(photo by S. Dewa - Specimen not collected).
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Roa haraguchiae sp. nov.
(New English name: White-spine Butterflyfish;
new standard Japanese name: Panda-genrokudai)
Chaetodon modestus (not of Temminck and Schlegel 1844): Ida 2009: 389, unnumbered uppermost middle fig. (Izu Peninsula, Japan)
Roa sp.: Uejo and Motomura 2017: 169, unnumbered fig. (off Iloilo, Panay Island, Philippines)
Distribution: Currently known from off Iloilo, Panay Island, the Philippines, and the East China Sea, Japan (146–162 m depth).
Etymology. The species is named in honor of Mrs. Yuriko Haraguchi, who has kindly supported our ichthyological research and fish collection management at the Kagoshima University Museum as a volunteer over 15 years.
Takuya Uejo, Hiroshi Senou and Hiroyuki Motomura. 2020. Roa haraguchiae, A New Species of Butterflyfish (Teleostei: Perciformes: Chaetodontidae) from Japan and the Philippines. Ichthyological Research. DOI: 10.1007/s10228-020-00735-9
