Newly named Weedfish lured from depths of SA waters
Scientists have officially named this distinctive-looking marine creature a Silverspot Weedfish after discovering it lurking deep below the waters off the South Australian coast.
Officially named Heteroclinus argyrospilos, the fish is among 139 new species named and described in the past year by Australia’s national science agency along with its researchers and partners.
CSIRO scientist John Pogonoski helped name four new species of marine fish.
He said the new Silverspot Weedfish was described from only two known specimens collected from south-western Australia by researchers on the former CSIRO Research Vessel Southern Surveyor in 2000 and 2005.
“The Weedfish were found 55 to 100 metres below sea level, which is interesting because they live deeper than other known members of the genus,” he said about the South Australian and Western Australia native.
Three other species of small, brightly coloured anthia fish were named after researchers carefully compared collected specimens with related species already held in collections across the nation.
“New species of anthias are still being recognised because they are rarely encountered due to being outside of normal diving depths, small in size, or living in habitats difficult to sample,” Pogonoski said.
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Other species to win a new name over the past year include 117 insects, 14 other invertebrates including 11 jumping spiders, one millipede, one earthworm and one marine trematode which was discovered inside a fish.
Lobelia pachytricha is another newly named South Australian native, a creeper with pretty blue to mauve flowers with yellow markings.
CSIRO Entomologist Dr David Yeates said the known but newly named ant Anonychomyrma inclinata was particularly special, due to its relationship with endangered Bulloak Jewel Butterfly, Hypochrysops piceatus.
“The ecological requirements for this beautiful butterfly are very narrow, which is probably why it is so rare,” Yeates said.
“The ant species we’ve now named needs to be nesting in a mature bull oak, Allocasuarina luehmannii. The butterfly caterpillars live under bark and are carried to soft bull oak leaves to feed at night by ‘babysitter’ ants. The ants protect the caterpillars from predators and receive a sugary gift from the caterpillars, a win-win for both species,” he said.
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Only about 25 per cent of Australia’s species are known to science, and the CSIRO strives to find new scientific names to help researchers, governments and the community better understand the nation’s vast ecosystems.
Newly named species
Marine fishes
- Heteroclinus argyrospilos (Silverspot Weedfish) lives in waters 55 to 100m deep in south-western Australia (SA and WA).
- Pseudanthias paralourgus (Purple-tip Anthias) lives in waters 110 to 119m deep in southern Queensland.
- Tosana longipinnis (Longfin Threadtail Anthias) lives in waters 62 to 252m deep from the central Queensland coast to the central NSW coast.
- Tosana dampieriensis (Dampierian Threadtail Anthias) lives in waters 66 to 177m deep in northern Western Australia.
Plants
- Lobelia pachytricha is a creeper with pretty blue to mauve flowers with yellow markings.
- Gomphrena axillaris and G. longistyla were described using specimens held in Australian herbaria.
Frog
- Philoria knowlesi – a mountain frog from south-east Queensland.
Insects
- 39 gall wasps from the Americas.
- 34 beetles, including the 2 weevils in the new genus Undarobius found in lava caves at Undara Volcanic National Park in north-eastern Queensland.
- 16 katydids
- 13 caddisflies
- 12 thrips
- One ant – Anonychomyrma inclinata, the obligate attendant for the rare and beautiful Bulloak Jewel butterfly Hypochrysops piceatus.
- One fly – Teratomyza ismayi, the first fern fly known from New Guinea.
- One bug – a treehopper found near Canberra and named Wallaciana namadgi after Namadgi National Park.
Other invertebrates
- 11 jumping spiders
- One millipede – the first millipede with more than 1000 legs.
- One earthworm
- One marine trematode – Enenterum petrae was found inside a species of fish, the Brassy Drummer (Kyphosus vaigiensis), collected off Lizard Island in Queensland.
