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Vol. 52, 2013
Revision of the worm eel genus Neenchelys (Ophichthidae:
Myrophinae), with descriptions of three new species from the western
Pacific Ocean
Hsuan-Ching
Ho1*, John E McCosker2 and David G Smith3
1National
Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium and Institute of Marine
Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, National Dong Hwa University,
Pingtung 944, Taiwan
2California Academy of Sciences, 55 Music Concourse
Drive, San Francisco, CA 94118, USA
3Museum Support Center, National Museum of Natural
History, Smithsonian Institution, 4210 Silver Hill Road, Suitland, MD
20746, USA
Abstract
Background: The Indo-Pacific snake
eel genus Neenchelys is a
small group of moderately to extremely elongated fishes (family
Ophichthidae), which comprises seven nominal species previously.
Intensive collections on this group have led to the findings of
taxonomic problems, as well as new taxa. This study is aimed to review
the group on the basis of all known specimens, to verify the species,
and to describe the new species.
Results: Six valid species are recognized: Neenchelys microtretus Bamber from the Suez,
Red Sea; N. buitendijki Weber
and de Beaufort from Indonesia, Bombay, India, and Malaysia; N. cheni (Chen and Weng), a senior
synonym of N. retropinna
Smith and Böhlke, from Taiwan, Vietnam, Australia, and the Gulf of
Oman; N. daedalus McCosker
from Papua New Guinea; N.
parvipectoralis Chu, Wu and Jin from the South China Sea off
Taiwan and Vietnam; and N. mccoskeri Hibino, Ho and Kimura from Japan
and Taiwan. Three new species - N.
diaphora sp. nov., N. pelagica
sp. nov., and N. similis sp.
nov. - are described from Taiwan and Japan. These new species differ
from the congeners in body proportions, meristics, and morphology. A
lectotype for N. buitendijki
is designated.
Conclusions: Totally, nine species
are recognized in Neenchelys,
including three new species, with most species showing range extension
in the Indo-west Pacific region. Diagnosis, detailed morphometric and
meristic data, and ecological note for each species are provided. New
diagnostic characters are used for recognizing the species, with a key
to the species of Neenchelys
provided. The recent discovery of new Asian species suggests that more
remain to be discovered.
Key words: Pisces; Anguilliformes;
Ophichthidae; Myrophinae; Neenchelys;
Taiwan.
*Correspondence: E-mail: ogcoho@gmail.com
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