Thalasseleotrididae, new family of marine gobioid fishes from New Zealand and temperate Australia, with a revised definition of its sister taxon, the Gobiidae (Teleostei: Acanthomorpha)

Abstract

Thalasseleotrididae n. fam. is erected to include two marine genera, Thalasseleotris Hoese & Larson from temperate Australia and New Zealand, and Grahamichthys Whitley from New Zealand. Both had been previously classified in the family Eleotrididae. The Thalasseleotrididae is demonstrably monophyletic on the basis of a single synapomorphy: membrane connecting the hyoid arch to ceratobranchial 1 broad, extending most of the length of ceratobranchial 1 (= first gill slit restricted or closed). The family represents the sister group of a newly diagnosed Gobiidae on the basis of five synapomorphies: interhyal with cup-shaped lateral structure for articulation with preopercle; laterally directed posterior process on the posterior ceratohyal supporting the interhyal; pharyngobranchial 4 absent; dorsal postcleithrum absent; urohyal without ventral shelf. The Gobiidae is defined by three synapomorphies: five branchiostegal rays; expanded and mediallyplaced ventral process on ceratobranchial 5; dorsal hemitrich of pelvic-fin rays with complex proximal head. This study represents a contribution to our ongoing clarification of the family Eleotrididae, which has served historically as a repository for genera not classified among the more derived gobioids (= Gobiidae as defined here). Copyright © 2012 · Magnolia Press.