Rhonciscus Explained

Rhonciscus is a genus of marine ray-finned fish, grunts belonging to the family Haemulidae. The species within the genus are found in the eastern Pacific and western Atlantic Ocean. It is not yet recognised by Fishbase but is by the Catalog of Fishes.

Species

The following species are classified within the genus Rhonciscus:

• Rhonciscus bayanus (Jordan & Evermann, 1898) (longspine grunt)
• Rhonciscus branickii (Steindachner 1879) (sand-mover grunt)
• Rhomciscus crocro (Cuvier, 1830 (Panama grunt)
• Rhonciscus pauco Tavera, Schärer-Umpierre & Acero P., 2022

Systematics

The type species of Rhonciscus is Pristipoma crocro which Fishbase still places 'within the genus Pomadasys. Molecular studies now suggest that Pomadasys sensu lato is paraphyletic with the Rhonciscus clade being Sister to the Haemulinae branch comprising the genera Haemulopsis, Conodon and Xenichthys.^[1] The genus Rhonciscus Jordan & Evermann, 1896 was revived to include the species listed above,^[2] A third species, Pomadasys branickii, has also been suggested for inclusion in this genus.^[1] The name Pristipoma is unavailable as its type species is Lutjanus hasta, a junior synonym of P. argenteus.^[3]

Notes and References

1. Jose Tavera. Arturo Acero P. . Peter C. Wainwright . 2018 . Multilocus phylogeny, divergence times, and a major role for the benthic-to- pelagic axis in the diversification of grunts (Haemulidae) . Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution . 121 . 212-223 . 10.1016/j.ympev.2017.12.032. free .
2. Paolo Parenti . 2019 . An annotated checklist of the fishes of the family Haemulidae (Teleostei: Perciformes) . Iranian Journal of Ichthyology . 6 . 3 . 150-196.
3. Tavera, J.J.P . Arturo Acero P. . E.F. Balart . G. Bernardi . amp . Molecular phylogeny of grunts (Teleostei, Haemulidae), with an emphasis on the ecology, evolution, and speciation history of New World species . BMC Evolutionary Biology . 12 . 57 . 2012 . 10.1186/1471-2148-12-57 . 3472276 . free .