Vol. 60, 2021

(update: 2021.03.18; 05.31)
 

Two New Moray Eels of Genera Diaphenchelys and Gymnothorax (Anguilliformes: Muraenidae) from Taiwan and the Philippines

Wen-Chien Huang^1,2,*, David G. Smith³, Kar-Hoe Loh⁴, and Te-Yu Liao⁵

¹Doctoral Degree Program in Marine Biotechnology, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. *Correspondence: E-mail: t6733@hotmail.com (Huang)
²Doctoral Degree Program in Marine Biotechnology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
³Smithsonian Institution, Museum Support Center, Suitland, MD, U.S.A. E-mail: smithd@si.edu (Smith)
⁴Institute of Ocean and Earth Sciences, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. E-mail: khloh@um.edu.my (Loh)
⁵Department of Oceanography, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. E-mail: swp0117@gmail.com (Liao)

Received 6 October 2020 / Accepted 7 March 2021
Communicated by Hin-Kiu Mok

Two new moray eels of the genera Diaphenchelys and Gymnothorax from Taiwan and the Philippines are described. Diaphenchelys laimospila sp. nov. is described based on two specimens that represent the third species and a new geographic record of the genus. It can be distinguished from the other two congeners by numbers of cephalic sensory pores, vertebral formula, morphometric measurements, and the coloration pattern. Gymnothorax pseudokidako sp. nov. is a muraenid with a dark brown body covered by pale snowflake-like blotches. It differs from the most similar species Gymnothorax kidako (Temminck and Schlegel) by having a relatively short tail (50.5–53.0% vs. 52.9–56.4% of TL), more dentary teeth (17–26 vs. 16–20), fewer total vertebrae (134–139 vs. 137–143), and the absence of white margin on anal fin (vs. prominent white margin). These two new species were also confirmed by molecular analyses, the mitochondrial COI gene (593 bp) for D. laimospila, and the nuclear EGR3 gene (767 bp) for G. pseudokidako.

Key words: Elopomorpha, Muraeninae, Muraenoidei, New species, Western Pacific.

Citation: Huang WC, Smith DG, Loh KH, Liao TY. 2021. Two new moray eels of genera Diaphenchelys and Gymnothorax (Anguilliformes: Muraenidae) from Taiwan and the Philippines. Zool Stud 60:24. doi:10.6620/ZS.2021.60-24.