Resurrection of Indian Ocean humbug damselfish, Dascyllus abudafur (Forsskål) from synonymy with its Pacific Ocean sibling, Dascyllus aruanus (L.)

Abstract : Previous phylogeographic studies of the humbug damselfish, a widespread Indo-West Pacific coral-reef fish, have revealed a split of two main mitochondrial lineages distributed on either side of the Indo-Pacific barrier. This has been interpreted as the result of vicariance. It has been hypothesized that reproductive barriers might currently limit gene flow between humbug damselfish populations from the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. In this study, we review the published phylogeographic information to update the distribution of the two main mitochondrial lineages of humbug damselfish. The Indian lineage was distributed from the Red Sea to the eastern extremity of the Sunda Shelf while the Pacific lineage, which diverged from the former by 0.6% net nucleotide divergence and diagnostic substitutions at three nucleotide sites at the cytochrome-b locus, was distributed east and north of the Sunda Shelf. The two forms, which are also genetically distinct at nuclear loci, were also characterized by distinct pigmentation patterns. We argue that the two forms represent geminate species. Epithet aruanus Linnaeus is maintained for the Pacific-Ocean humbug damselfish while epithet abudafur (Forsskål) is here resurrected for the Indian-Ocean humbug damselfish. Future studies should focus on the population genetic structure of the transition zone between Dascyllus abudafur and D. aruanus.