RESEARCH ARTICLE

Chrysiptera uswanasi, a new microendemic species of damselfish (Teleostei: Pomacentridae) from West Papua Province, Indonesia

Gerald R. Allen, Mark V. Erdmann & N.K. Dita Cahyani

Abstract

Chrysiptera uswanasi, n. sp., the seventh member of the Chrysiptera oxycephala species complex of Pomacentridae, is described on the basis of 10 specimens, 24.7-45.3 mm SL, collected at the Fakfak Peninsula of New Guinea (West Papua Province, Indonesia). The new taxon is a microendemic species, found only in a small area around the Fakfak Peninsula. It differs from other members of the group, C. burtjonesi (Solomon Islands), C. ellenae (Raja Ampat Islands, West Papua Province in Indonesia), C. maurineae (Cenderawasih Bay, West Papua Province), C. oxycephala (central Indonesia, Philippines, and Palau), C. papuensis (NE Papua New Guinea), and C. sinclairi (Bismarck Archipelago and islands off NE Papua New Guinea), on the basis of its distinctive color pattern and a 9.3% divergence in the sequence of the mitochondrial control region from its closest relative (C. oxycephala). Adults are mainly greenish yellow grading to pearly gray ventrally with numerous small blue or greenish spots on the head, body, and basal portion of the dorsal, anal, and caudal fins, and juveniles have a distinctive bright blue snout and forehead. The adult differs from the adults of most of the other members of the group in lacking bright yellow on the ventral body, including the pelvic and anal fins. The two other species in the complex that are also lacking bright yellow ventral bodies and fins are C. ellenae, which differs in being overall more green and having an all blue juvenile stage, and C. sinclairi, which is mostly dark blue, both as adults and juveniles.