Priority of the Family-Group Name Zanclorhynchidae (Pisces: Scorpaenoidei)

Discussion

At the present time, the vast majority of catalogs erroneously attribute authorship of the family Zanclorhynchidae to Mandritsa. The aim of this article is to clarify the situation.

The position of the genera Congiopodus Perry, 1811, Zanclorhynchus Günther, 1880, and Alertichthys Moreland, 1960 in the fish system is still controversial. The taxonomic position of this group of genera was proposed to be formalized in quite a variety of ways. Some researchers have recognized taxonomic rank at the level of the suborder Congiopodoidei [1, 2, 3, 4, 5], but this view has not received further support [6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11]. Now the main questions arise when using genetic methods, as a result of which the position of these three species on the phylogenetic tree of fish [12, 13] differs from the result of morphological studies [6, 14]. Nevertheless, the monophyly of the discussed group of genera has been shown by a number of studies [5, 6, 14, 15].

The genus Zanclorhynchus was originally placed in the family Scorpaenidae Risso, 1827 [16, 17], but since 1937 it has been placed in the family Congiopodidae Gill, 1889 [18]. For a long time, the genus Perryena Whitley, 1940 was included in the family Congiopodidae, but Honma, et al. [19] moved it to a new family Perryenidae and finally determined the composition of the family Congiopodidae s.l.: Congiopodus, Zanclorhynchus, and Alertichthys. Within this group, a sister relationship between Congiopodus and Zanclorhynchus plus Alertichthys is recognized [5, 6, 15, 19, 20].

Until recently, these genera were placed in two subfamilies Congiopodinae and Zanclorhynchinae, respectively. In the work of 2021, it is proposed to raise the rank again to families and consider them as belonging to the superfamily Congiopodoidea [21].

Mandritsa [5] in his book described a new family, Zanclorhynchidae, where he placed Zanclorhynchus and Alertichthys. The diagnosis of the family are:

• The origin of the dorsal fin is behind the neurocranium
• The presence of 5 large sharp spines on the head
• Supratemporal commissure interrupted between parietale and supraorbitale mediale.
• On dentale there is only one pore in praeperculum- mandibular canal
• No pores on praeperculum-mandibular canal between coronal commissure and the origin of temporal canal
• First two segments of the lateral line are a continuation of the temporal canal, the other segments are isolated from each other
• The first two interneuralia positioned between the neural spines of the first and second vertebrae
• Behind the third vertebra there are no “free” spaces between the neural spines under the first dorsal fin without interneuralia
• There is a wide and long oval aperture between ossa pelvis
• Parietalia meets each other
• Six branchiostegal rays
• All pleural ribs sit on the parapophyses
• Musculus adductor mandibulae attached to suborbital 2.

Most likely, Mandritsa was unaware of the work, where Andriashev twice used the name Zanclorhynchinae [20]. Andriashev placed genera Zanclorhynchus and Alertichthys in this subfamily 8 years before Mandritsa, listing the following diagnostic parameters:

• Three radialia in pectoral girdle
• All rays are unbranched in the ventral fins, the last (fifth) one differs from the others - it is strong, thickened, non- segmented, with the exception of a very short and thin tip
• All rays are more rigid than those of Congiopodus, their segmentation is developed over a smaller extent, being strongly moved distally Andriashev considered the described diagnostic parameters to be acquired in connection with the type of locomotion on four fins. In a footnote to the text, Andriashev mentions a future publication where he plans to give an accurate depiction and description of the morphology of the fins and girdles of congiopodids. Unfortunately, this work never came out.

The authorship of the family-group name Zanclorhynchinae is not in dispute, according to the priority principal, the senior creation is valid. The name must be used as follows.

Systematics

Order Perciformes Suborder Scorpaenoidei Superfamily Congiopodoidea Gill, 1889 Family Congiopodidae Gill, 1889 Genus Congiopodus Perry, 1811 Species Congiopodus torvus (Gronow, 1772) Species Congiopodus peruvianus (Cuvier, 1829) Species Congiopodus spinifer (Smith, 1839) Species Congiopodus leucopaecilus (Richardson, 1846) Species Congiopodus kieneri (Sauvage, 1878) Species Congiopodus coriaceus (Paulin et Moreland, 1979) Family Zanclorhynchidae Andriashev, 1993 Genus Zanclorhynchus Günther, 1880 Species Zanclorhynchus spinifer Günther, 1880 Subspecies Zanclorhynchus spinifer spinifer Günther, 1880 Subspecies Zanclorhynchus spinifer heracleus Zhukov et Balushkin, 2018 Subspecies Zanclorhynchus spinifer armatus Zhukov, 2019 Subspecies Zanclorhynchus spinifer macquariensis Zhukov, 2019 Species Zanclorhynchus chereshnevi Balushkin et Zhukov, 2016 Genus Alertichthys Moreland, 1960 Species Alertichthys blacki Moreland, 1960

Funding

The study was supported by the State Research Program number 122031100285-3.

Acknowledgments

The author thanks Richard van der Laan for the comments.