A Review of Parrotfishes (Perciformes: Scaridae) of Taiwan with Descriptions of Four New Records and One Doubtful Species

Yun-Chih Liao, Li-Shu Chen, Kwang-Tsao Shao, and I-Shuing Chen (2004) A review of parrotfishes (Perciformes: Scaridae) of Taiwan with descriptions of four new records and one doubtful species. Zoological Studies 43(3): 519-536. In total, 30 species belonging to 7 genera and 2 subfamilies of the family Scaridae are found in Taiwan. Among them, 4 species, Calotomus japonicus, Scarus chameleon, S. quoyi, and S. spinus, are recorded for the 1st time from Taiwan. The biogeographical distribution of Calotomus japonicus is extended southwards to southern Taiwan. According to Bellwood (1994), 5 species previously classified into the genus Scarus in Shen et al. (1993) should be placed in the genus Chlorurus: C. bowersi, C. japanensis, C. microrhinos, C. oedema, and C. sordidus. The 2nd and 3rd species mentioned above were respectively used as junior synonyms of S. pyrrhurus and S. gibbus. Furthermore, we found specimens which would be a new species of Scarus since its morphological and molecular data show significant differences from other congeneric species. Because most of the parrotfish specimens in Shao and Chen (1989) were damaged or discarded, we recollected and re-deposited almost all of them to the Research Museum of the Institute of Zoology, Academia Sinica, Taipei. In addition to detailed descriptions of the 4 newly recorded species and 1 doubtful species, the synonym lists, catalog numbers of deposited specimens, and distributions of the remaining 26 species were also compiled. A diagnostic key to the species, and color plates of all parrotfish species of Taiwan are also provided in this paper. http://www.sinica.edu.tw/zool/zoolstud/43.3/519.pdf