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Issue: Vol. 4208 No. 5: 20 Dec. 2016
Type: Article
Published: 2016-12-19
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4208.5.1
Page range: 401–432
Abstract views: 269
PDF downloaded: 5

Bythaelurus bachi n. sp., a new deep-water catshark (Carcharhiniformes, Scyliorhinidae) from the southwestern Indian Ocean, with a review of Bythaelurus species and a key to their identification

Elasmo-Lab, Elasmobranch Research Laboratory, Schlägertwiete 5b, 21335 Lüneburg, Germany
Pacific Shark Research Center, Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, Moss Landing, CA 95039, USA Research Associate, South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity, Private Bag 1015, Grahamstown, 6140, South Africa Research Associate, Department of Ichthyology, California Academy of Sciences, 55 Music Concourse Drive, San Francisco, CA. 94118, USA
Pacific Shark Research Center, Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, Moss Landing, CA 95039, USA
ICHTHYS, Ichthyological Research Laboratory and Consultant, Hildesheimer Weg 13, 22459 Hamburg, Germany
Hollings Marine Laboratory, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC 29412
Pisces Chondrichthyes Elasmobranchii taxonomy new species morphology DNA analysis molecular phylogeny NADH2 western Indian Ocean

Abstract

A new deep-water catshark, Bythaelurus bachi, is described based on 44 specimens caught on the southern Madagascar Ridge in the southwestern Indian Ocean. The new species is the only stout-bodied Bythaelurus with oral papillae in the region and is distinguished from all congeners by the plain beige to light gray-brown coloration, high diversity in dermal denticle morphology, and presence of composite oral papillae. Despite resemblance in body shape, Bythaelurus bachi n. sp. is distinguished from its closest congener, B. naylori Ebert & Clerkin, 2015, by the presence of numerous large, partially composite papillae on the tongue and roof of the mouth (vs. papillae lacking), plain light coloration (vs. medium to dark brown ground color, light fin edges and a distinctly dark dusky-colored snout), only slightly enlarged dermal denticles on the anterior upper caudal-fin margin (vs. dermal denticles distinctly enlarged), a higher diversity in dermal denticle morphology in general, and smaller maximum size and size at maturity. The distinction of both species is also supported by molecular results. The new species differs from all other congeners in the western Indian Ocean in the stout body shape of large specimens, coloration, larger size, as well as several morphometrics, including larger claspers, longer eyes and dorsal fins, and shorter pelvic—anal and pelvic—caudal spaces. The genus is reviewed, a key to its species given.

 

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