Systematics of Damselfishes
Author
Tang, Kevin L.
Author
Stiassny, Melanie L. J.
Author
Mayden, Richard L.
Author
DeSalle, Robert
text
Ichthyology & Herpetology
2021
2021-05-05
109
1
258
318
http://dx.doi.org/10.1643/i2020105
journal article
53279
10.1643/i2020105
cf572f6b-8843-4383-85ce-ac9ea8515e87
2766-1520
7846738
Hemiglyphidodon
.
—
This monotypic genus is characterized by a high gill-raker count that is unique in the family (.65 on first branchial arch vs.,40, in rest of family; Allen, 1975a, 1991;
Masuda et al., 1984
).
Hemiglyphidodon plagiometopon
occurs in the Indo-Australian Archipelago. It is another damselfish species that tends and harvests algal gardens (
Lassuy, 1980
;
Sammarco, 1983
;
Sammarco et al., 1986
;
Hoey and Bellwood, 2010
;
Hata and Ceccarelli, 2016
) though there is evidence that it derives a large part of its diet from detritus which accumulates on the algae in its territory and not the algae itself (
Wilson and Bellwood, 1997
). It seems that a strategy involving territorial defense and maintenance of an algal lawn, whether as a direct food source or as a collection system for food items, has evolved multiple times within
Pomacentridae
(e.g., herbivorous ‘‘
Chrysiptera
,’’
Dischistodus
,
Stegastes
). Even though there is little doubt about the nearest relatives of
Hemiglyphidodon
, its phylogenetic position within the tribe is unstable. We recover it as the sister group to the rest of
Hemiglyphidodontini
which agrees with some earlier works (e.g., Cowman and Bellwood, 2011;
Rabosky et al., 2013
;
Lobato et al., 2014
), but diasagrees with others which have shown it to be sister to
Acanthochromis
(Cooper et al., 2009;
Mirande, 2016
),
Ambylglyphidodon
(
Litsios et al., 2012a
,
2012b
;
Frédérich et al., 2013
; DiBattista et al., 2016;
Gaboriau et al., 2018
;
Rabosky et al., 2018
), or both (
Quenouille et al., 2004
).