Bleekeriella gen. nov.

MP 100, BI 1, ML 100

(Figs 1–3, 40)

ZooBank registration: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 8CB66BBD-FB43-495E-B45A-EBF42667194F.

Type species: Arius leptaspis Bleeker, 1862.

Diagnosis (all of ambiguous optimization)

Posterior branch of lateral ethmoid depressed (13, 0> 1); posterior cranial fontanel absent (26, 1> 0); epiphyseal bar indistinct (28, 0> 1); medial groove of cranium absent (30, 0> 1); temporal fossa very reduced (39, 1> 0); posterior process of exoccipital sutured to Müllerian ramus (93, 0> 1); autopalatine posterior portion conspicuously compressed (106, 0> 1); articulation of autopalatine with lateral ethmoid posteromesially oriented (110, 0> 1); lateral and mesial portions of premaxilla with different sizes (121,0> 1); anteroventral portion of opercle subtrapezoidal, very long (127, 1> 0); one-half or less of interopercle posterior part contacting ventral margin of opercle (131, 1> 0); sesamoid bone I very long and subtriangular (145, 0> 1); Müllerian ramus bone blade evident only basally (206, 2> 1); Müllerian ramus distal third markedly curved (208, 1> 2).

Etymology

Named for the Dutch ichthyologist Pieter Bleeker (1819–1878) who contributed greatly to our understanding of the taxonomy of ariids from the Indo–Malaysian archipelago. Gender: feminine.

Included species

Bleekeriella leptaspis Bleeker, 1862

Bleekeriella aff. leptaspis.

Habitat and distribution: Predominantly brackish waters, southern New Guinea and northern Australia (Fig. 38).

Remarks

Arius leptaspis was previously included in Ariopsis Kailola 2004 or Sciades (Marceniuk and Menezes 2007, Marceniuk et al. 2012), but results of the total-evidence analysis indicate that it is not closely related to species of either genus, but is related closely to an unnamed species from Indonesia. These findings corroborate a previous molecular study (Betancur-R. 2009).