Morwong (genus)
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| Morwong | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Red morwong Cheilodactylus (Morwong) fuscus | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Centrarchiformes |
| Family: | Cheilodactylidae |
| Genus: | Cheilodactylus |
| Subgenus: | Morwong Whitley, 1957 |
| Type species | |
| Cheilodactylus fuscus Castelnau, 1879 | |
Morwong is a genus of marine ray-finned fish traditionally classified as a subgenus within the genus Cheilodactylus and as belonging to the family Cheilodactylidae found in oceans off Australia and New Zealand. They were formerly included in the genus Cheilodactylus in family Cheilodactylidae, but based on genetic and morphological analyses they have strongly suggested that the genus Morwong is a valid genus and should be placed in the family Latridae.
Morwong was first used as a name for a genus in 1957 when the Australian ichthyologist Gilbert Percy Whitley designated Cheilodactylus fuscus as its type species by monotypy. It was, however, traditionally regarded as synonymous with Cheilodactylus.[1] The genus name is the name in Australian English, the origins of which are unknown, for a number of similar fish species, mostly in the families Cheilodactylidae and Latridae.[2]
Although the red morwong has usually been assigned to Cheilodactylus, DNA studies published in the early 2000s recovered Cheilodactylus fuscus as closer to Nemadactylus than to the Cheilodactylus type species. In the meantime, John E. Randall has recommended using the generic name Morwong for C. fuscus. In this case, Cheilodactylus ephippum would also become a referred species of Morwong, as M. ephippum, because Burridge and White (2000) and Burridge and Smolenski (2004) recovered it as sister to the red morwong.[3][4][5] Genetic and morphological analyses have also strongly suggested that only two southern African species in Cheilodactylus, C. fasciatus and C. pixi, make up a monophyletic clade and that all the other “morwongs” were closer to the Latridae.[6]
Species
There are two recognized species in this clade:[6][7]
- Morwong ephippium (McCulloch & Waite, 1916) – painted moki
- Morwong fuscus (Castelnau, 1879) – red morwong