Amblypomacentrus, Bleeker, 1877

Tang, Kevin L., Stiassny, Melanie L. J., Mayden, Richard L. & DeSalle, Robert, 2021, Systematics of Damselfishes, Ichthyology & Herpetology 109 (1), pp. 258-318 : 295

Amblypomacentrus .

— As noted above, this genus is revised herein to include three species formerly classified as Chrysiptera ( A. annulatus , A. kuiteri , and A. tricinctus ) because these black-and-white striped species are more closely related to species of Amblypomacentrus sensu stricto in our phylogeny ( Fig. 1 ). This result corroborates Cooper et al. (2009), who found ‘‘ Chrysiptera ’’ kuiteri more closely related to A. clarus . They noted that all three species of ‘‘ Chrysiptera ’’ shared similarities in size, coloration, and habitat preference with members of Amblypomacentrus . Phylogenetic studies since Cooper et al. (2009) have recovered similar relationships between those three ‘‘ Chrysiptera ’’ and Amblypomacentrus (e.g., Cowman and Bellwood, 2011; Litsios et al., 2012a; Frédérich et al., 2013; Rabosky et al., 2013, 2018; Lobato et al., 2014; DiBattista et al., 2016; Mirande, 2016; Gaboriau et al., 2018; Delrieu-Trottin et al., 2019). Allen (1975a: 42) mentioned that Amblypomacentrus closely resembles some species of Chrysiptera (as Glyphidodontops ), but he did not specify which ones. Randall et al. (1997: 252) commented that the coloration of A. breviceps is similar to Chrysiptera tricincta [¼ A. tricinctus ]. Based on the distribution of barred color patterns in Pomacentridae, Merilaita and Kelley (2018 : fig. 4) showed that distinct vertical bars are clustered in groups of closely related damselfish species (e.g., Abudefduf , Amphiprion ). Other traits shared by the species of Amblypomacentrus sensu novum include uniserial teeth (Allen, 1975a; Allen and Rajasuriya, 1995; Allen and Adrim, 2000; biserial in C. annulata ; Allen and Randall, 1974, 1981) and preference for sand or silt habitats (Allen, 1975a, 1991; Allen and Rajasuriya, 1995; Randall et al., 1997; Allen and Adrim, 2000; Allen et al., 2003; Randall, 2005; Cooper et al., 2009; Lepoint et al., 2016).

Figures

FIG. 1. The phylogenetic relationships of damselfishes (Teleostei: Pomacentridae): (A) outgroup taxa; (B) subfamilies Microspathodontinae and Glyphisodontinae; (C) subfamily Chrominae; (D) subfamily Pomacentrinae (part I); (E) subfamily Pomacentrinae (part II). The phylogeny is based on the maximum-likelihood topology with the best log likelihood score (ln L ¼ –45,4518.728) recovered from ten independent maximum-likelihood analyses of a data matrix composed of 462 taxa and 6,865 nucleotides. Bootstrap values from 1,000 ultrafast replicates are displayed for each node