Morwong (genus)

Morwong
Morwong fuscus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Perciformes
Family:	Latridae
Genus:	Morwong Whitley, 1957
Type species
Cheilodactylus fuscus Castelnau, 1879

Morwong is a genus of morwongs belonging to the family Latridae.

Systematics

Although the red morwong is usually assigned to Cheilodactylus, DNA studies published in the early 2000s recover 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) recover it as sister to the red morwong.^[1][2][3]

References

1. Burridge, C.P., and White, R.W.G. 2000. Molecular phylogeny of the antitropical subgenus Goniistius (Perciformes: Cheilodactylidae: Cheilodactylus ): evidence for multiple transequatorial divergences and non-monophyly. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 70: 435-458.
2. Burridge and Smolenski (2004). Molecular phylogeny of the Cheilodactylidae and Latridae (Perciformes: Cirrhitoidea) with notes on taxonomy and biogeography. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 30: 118–127.
3. Randall, J. E. 2001. Family Cheilodactylidae. pp. 3329-3330. In: Carpenter & Niem 2001 (eds.) Species identification guide for fishery purposes. The living marine resources of the western central Pacific. Bony fishes part 3 (Menidae to Pomacentridae). FAO, Rome. v. 5: iii-iv; 2791-3379, I-XXVII.