Abstract
The Eviotazebrina complex includes eight species of closely-related dwarfgobies, four of which are herein described as new. The complex is named for Eviotazebrina Lachner & Karnella, 1978, an Indian Ocean species with the holotype from the Seychelles Islands and also known from the Maldives, which was once thought to range into the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea eastward to the Great Barrier Reef of Australia. Our analysis supports the recognition of four genetically distinct, geographically non-overlapping, species within what was previously called E.zebrina, with E.zebrina being restricted to the Indian Ocean, E.marerubrumsp. nov. described from the Red Sea, E.longirostrissp. nov. described from western New Guinea, and E.pseudozebrinasp. nov. described from Fiji. The caudal fin of all four of these species is crossed by oblique black bars in preservative, but these black bars are absent from the four other species included in the complex. Two of the other species within the complex, E.tetha and E.gunawanae are morphologically similar to each other in having the AITO cephalic-sensory pore positioned far forward and opening anteriorly. Eviotatetha is known from lagoonal environments in Cenderawasih Bay and Raja Ampat, West Papua, and E.gunawanae is known only from deeper reefs (35–60 m) from Fakfak Regency, West Papua. The final two species are E.cometa which is known from Fiji and Tonga and possesses red bars crossing the caudal fin (but lost in preservative) and a 9/8 dorsal/anal-fin formula, and E.oculineatasp. nov., which is described as new from New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, and possesses an 8/7 dorsal/anal-fin formula and lacks red caudal bars. Eviotaoculineata has been confused with E.cometa in the past.
Highlights
The genus Eviota, commonly known as dwarfgobies, contains 124 species (Greenfield 2021; Greenfield and Erdmann 2021), making it one of the most speciose genera of marine fishes
The combination of molecular data, live coloration, and re-examination of preserved specimens including type series have shown that the Eviota zebrina complex contains at least eight species
The integrative approach taken here was first used in this complex to recognize E. gunawanae as being distinct from E. tetha (Greenfield et al 2019), and here we expanded our taxonomic scope within the complex to recognize E. longirostris, E. marerubrum, E. oculineata, and E. pseudozebrina as being distinct from E. zebrina and E. cometa, two species that they were previously confused when molecular data and color images of live specimens were unavailable
Summary
The genus Eviota, commonly known as dwarfgobies, contains 124 species (Greenfield 2021; Greenfield and Erdmann 2021), making it one of the most speciose genera of marine fishes. Several putatively widespread species of Eviota displaying morphological variation have recently been shown to be complexes of distinct species that are often distinguishable by a combination of genetic differences, subtle morphological characters, and/or differences in live coloration (Greenfield and Tornabene 2014; Tornabene et al 2015, 2016) Another example of this phenomenon is demonstrated by the Eviota zebrina complex, a group containing eight genetic lineages based on mtDNA, including the nominal species Eviota zebrina Lachner & Karnella, 1978, E. cometa Jewett & Lachner, 1983, E. gunawanae Greenfield et al, 2019, E. tetha Greenfield & Erdmann, 2014, and several undescribed species (Greenfield et al 2019). The addition of these four new species raises the total number of species in the genus to 127
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