Family MICRODESMIDAE

Museums

Regional Maps

External Links

Introduction

Wormfishes and dartfishes, the Microdesmidae, occur in tropical and warm temperate regions worldwide. Currently, 12 genera and around 90 species are recognised, with eight genera and 26 species known from Australia. The name Ptereleotridae is the oldest name for this family, but the name Microdesmidae has been in use for the family since 1984. Under the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature Article 35.5 older names normally do not replace names in common usage and the name Microdesmidae is retained here.

Two subfamilies (Microdesminae and Ptereleotrinae) are recognised and the works of Hoese (1984) and Akihito et al. (2000) are followed here. Because the relationships of the subfamilies have been questioned (see Ptereleotrinae below), both subfamilies are treated here. Thacker (2000, 2003) did not support a close relationship between the two subfamilies. However, Thacker (2009) did present evidence of relationships, including the Schlinderiidae, but also included in the group were New World 7-spined gobies. Hoese & Motomura (2009) described a new genus with features found in both subfamilies and suggested the microdesmines might be more closely related to some ptereleotrine genera than others. Recent molecular studies also supported the close relationships of the two groups (Agorreta et al. 2013). Tornabene et al. (2013) considered both groups related and included the group within the Gobiidae.

General References

Agorreta, A., San Mauro, D., Schliewen, U., Van Tassell, J.L., Kovačić, M., Zardoya, R. & Rüber, L. 2013. Molecular phylogenetics of Gobioidei and phylogenetic placement of European gobies. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 69(3): 619–633

Akihito, P., Iwata, A., Kobayashi, T., Ikeo, K., Imanishi, T., Ono, H., Umehara, Y., Hamamatsu, C., Sugiyama, K., Ikeda, Y., Sakamoto, K., Fumihito, A., Ohno, S. & Gojobori, T. 2000. Evolutionary aspects of gobioid fishes based upon a phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial cytochrome b genes. Gene 259: 5-15

Hoese, D.F. 1984. Gobioidei: Relationships. pp. 588-591 in Moser, H.G. et al. (eds). Ontogeny and Systematics of Fishes. American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists. Special Publication 1: 1-760

Hoese, D.F. & Motomura, H. 2009. Descriptions of two new genera and species of ptereleotrine fishes from Australia and Japan (Teleostei: Gobioidei) with discussion of possible relationships. Zootaxa 2312: 49-59

Thacker, C. 2000. Phylogeny of the wormfishes (Teleostei: Gobioidei: Microdesmidae). Copeia 2000(4): 940-957

Thacker, C.E. 2003. Molecular phylogeny of the gobioid fishes. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 26(3): 354-368

Thacker, C.E. 2009. Phylogeny of Gobioidei and placement within Acanthomorpha, with a new classification and investigation of diversification and character evolution. Copeia 2009(1): 93–104

Tornabene, L., Chen, Y. & Pezold, F. 2013. Gobies are deeply divided: phylogenetic evidence from nuclear DNA (Teleostei: Gobioidei: Gobiidae). Systematics and Biodiversity 11(3): 345-361

Common Name References

Myers, R.F. 1999. Micronesian Reef Fishes. A comprehensive guide to the coral reef fishes of Micronesia. Guam : Coral Graphics vi 330 pp. 192 pls. [261] (Dartfishes, Wormfishes)

History of changes