New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research abstracts
DNA and meristic evidence for two species of giant stargazer (Teleostei: Uranoscopidae: Kathetostoma)
in New Zealand waters
Peter J. Smith
National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Limited
Private Bag 14 901
Wellington, New Zealand
email: p.smith@niwa.co.nz
Robin P. McPhee*
Clive D. Roberts
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
P.O. Box 467
Wellington, New Zealand
*Present address: 3 Irwell Cresent, Island Bay, Wellington,
New Zealand.
Abstract The taxonomic status of the banded giant stargazer
in New Zealand waters is uncertain. Mitochondrial DNA partial sequences of
the cytochrome b gene and the control region, along with three meristic
characters (numbers of dorsal fin rays, anal fin rays, and vertebrae), were
compared among six recognised species of Kathetostoma and specimens
of the banded giant morph. New Zealand specimens referred to as banded giant
stargazer were shown to be a discrete species distinguished from the giant
stargazer K. giganteum from
New Zealand and the banded K. laeve and K. canaster from Australia,
by cytochrome b and control region sequences and meristic counts. This
undescribed species occurs over a wide geographic range from the Snares shelf
(48°S) to the Norfolk Ridge (32°S) in the Tasman Sea, and is largely
sympatric with K. giganteum. The two New Zealand species occupy different
depth ranges, with the banded giant stargazer generally occurring in shallower
water (<320 m) than K. giganteum (12–1000 m).
Keywords mitochondrial DNA; meristics; stargazer; Kathetostoma;
taxonomy; species discrimination; undescribed species
New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 2006, Vol. 40:
379–387
0028–8330/06/4003–0379 © The Royal Society
of New Zealand 2006
M05054; online publication date 7 July 2006. Received 19 August 2005;
accepted 13 December 2005
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