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| Aulopus chirichignoae Béarez, Zavalaga, Miranda, Mennesson, Campos-Leónand & Jiménez-Prado, 2024 |
Abstract
A new species of the Aulopidae is described from the waters of southern Ecuador and northern Peru. Aulopus chirichignoae sp. nov. was previously confused with Aulopus bajacali Parin & Kotlyar, 1984, but it differs from this species by a significantly marked elongation of the dorsal fin rays in males (absent in females), a smaller head, modal differences in dorsal and anal ray counts (15 vs 14 and 11 vs 12, respectively), a higher number of vertebrae (50–51 vs 47–49), and color differences, especially on the dorsal fin. DNA barcoding analysis supported the status of new species, evidencing a 4.2% and 2.8% divergence with Aulopus filamentosus (Bloch, 1792) and A. bajacali, respectively. A sequence of an Aulopus sp., collected in the Tropical Eastern Pacific, matches the new species with only a 0.4% divergence, indicating that Aulopus chirichignoae sp. nov. is distributed at least as far north as the Paramount Seamount at 3°20.35’N, ca. 400 km north of the Galápagos Islands.
Pisces, new species, fish, taxonomy, Peru, Ecuador, Tropical Eastern Pacific, DNA barcode
Aulopus chirichignoae sp. nov.
Philippe BÉAREZ, Fabiola ZAVALAGA, Junior MIRANDA, Marion I. MENNESSON, Sarita CAMPOS-LEÓN and Pedro JIMÉNEZ-PRADO. 2024. Aulopus chirichignoae, A New flagfin from the eastern Pacific Ocean (Teleostei, Aulopiformes, Aulopidae). Zootaxa. 5458(1); 108-118. DOI: doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5458.1.6
