Randall Mooi

• Doctor of Philosophy
• The Manitoba Museum

Callogobius williamsi new species is described from the 32.9 mm SL holotype and 29 paratypes (6.9–32.5 mm SL) from the Marquesas Islands, South Pacific Ocean. Callogobius williamsi is distinguished from all other known Callogobius species by the following combination of characters: scales mostly cycloid, ctenoid scales, if present, restricted to th...

Five species of Callogobius Bleeker have been previously reported from the Red Sea: C. amikami Goren, Miroz & Ba-ranes, C. clarki (Goren), C. dori Goren, C. flavobrunneus (Smith), and C. maculipinnis (Fowler). Records of C. bifasciatus (Smith) in the Red Sea are referable to C. clarki. Callogobius amikami has been previously known only from a singl...

Willi Hennig (1913–76), founder of phylogenetic systematics, revolutionised our understanding of the relationships among species and their natural classification. An expert on Diptera and fossil insects, Hennig's ideas were applicable to all organisms. He wrote about the science of taxonomy or systematics, refining and promoting discussion of the p...

Pempheris bexillon new species is described from the 129 mm SL holotype and 11 paratypes (119-141 mm SL) from the Comoro Islands. Twelve other specimens have been examined from the Agaléga Islands, Mascarene Islands, and Bassas da India (Madagascar). It is differentiated from other Pempheris by the following combination of characters: a yellow dors...

Callogobius darki (Goren) is redescribed based on 21 specimens from the Red Sea. This species was originally described from a single specimen collected from the Red Sea, but subsequent workers have placed it in synonymy with the Western Indian Ocean species C. bifasciatus (Smith). However, it differs from C. bifasciatus in lacking all head pores, a...

Callogobius winterbottomi new species is described from the 33.8 mm SL holotype and two paratypes (32.2 mm SL and 22.9 mm SL) from the Comoros, Western Indian Ocean. It is distinguished from all other known Callogobius species by the following combination of characters: sensory pores absent, 23-26 scales in lateral series, and sensory papillae preo...

Callogobius liolepis Bleeker in Koumans was briefly described from two specimens from Ambon. A later, more detailed description by Koumans was apparently based on Bleeker's unpublished description and specimens of C. okinawae (Snyder), considerably complicating the taxonomy of several species. Re-examination of the syntypes identifies C. liolepis a...

Thalasseleotrididae n. fam. is erected to include two marine genera, Thalasseleotris Hoese & Larson from temperate Australia and New Zealand, and Grahamichthys Whitley from New Zealand. Both had been previously classified in the family Eleotrididae. The Thalasseleotrididae is demonstrably monophyletic on the basis of a single synapomorphy: membrane...

The assertion that phylogenetic inference algorithms are not authoritarian because results are repeatable, predictable and freely available misses the point that the authority resides in underlying algorithm models that are not cladistic. We show that optimi-zation procedures can group using symplesiomorphy and that optimization is not always equiv...

Wiley et al. (2011) begin their critique of our paper (Mooi & Gill, 2010) with an assertion: “we need to make itclear that the foundation of their arguments rests not on scientific rigor, but rather on opinions about the re-classification of fishes using molecular data. This bias is the reason that they only targeted researchers who proposed change...

Now, when I have spoken on these matters in the past, it has sounded to some as if I had taken upon myself the task of denigrating paleontology and individual paleontologists. That is not so. I am concerned with what I find is a real problem.—Nelson, 1969 in Williams and Ebach, 2004: 711

We report on the remarkable variation and frequency of color morphs within and among eight populations of the Common Gartersnake (Thamnophis sirtalis) in central Manitoba, Canada and one on Isle Royale, Michigan, USA. Five color morph categories are identified, one melanistic and four scored on a qualitative scale based on expression of red pigment...

The Congrogadinae consists of 19 species of elongate fishes which reach a maximum length of about 40 cm. They occur primarily in the coral reefs and sea-grass meadows of the Indo-West Pacific. Mature ovarian eggs were found to possess hooked, multi-armed projections distributed equidistantly over their surfaces. Each projection has a central pedice...

We contend that the move away from providing character evidence with phylogenies has diminished fish systematics and systematics in general, and amounts to a crisis. Present practices focus on solutions to matrices rather than on character homology, and rely on algorithms and statistics rather than biology to determine relationships. Optimization p...

The composition of the Microdesminae has been inconsistently reported in recent molecular studies. A monophyletic Microdesminae consisting of both Indo-Pacific and New World/Atlantic genera is diagnosed here by the following synapomorphies: maxilla with elongate projection extending anteriorly over ascending processes of premaxilla; palatine medial...

IntroductionConcepts and Methods Cladistic Biogeography Distribution, Faunal Composition and Historical Biogeography by RegionConclusions References

The Notograptidae contains one genus, Notograptus Günther, and five nominal species from northern Australia and southern New Guinea. Morphological evidence places Notograptus among acanthoclinine plesiopids (continuous free margin of lower lip; head naked; dorsal and anal fins with many spines and few segmented rays; no extensor proprius; reduced n...

Acanthoplesiops naka sp. n. is described from the 9.9 mm SL holotype collected at Ofolanga Island of the Ha'apai Group of Tonga. Its dorsal-fin spine count of XVIII is unique in the genus. The fol-lowing combination of characters also distinguishes it from congeners: first two dorsal-fin pterygio-phores in the 3 rd interneural space (anterior dorsa...

The known pempherid fauna of New Zealand comprises two species: Pempheris adspersa Griffin, endemic to the north‐eastern shores of North Island; and P. analis Waite, found in the Kermadec Islands as well as Norfolk Island, Lord Howe Island, and the east and west coasts of Australia. Pempheris adspersa differs from P. analis in having: some interorb...

Congrogadus winterbottomi is described from Middle Mangrove Island, West Pilbara Islands, and Exmouth Gulf in Western Australia. It is assigned to a new subgenus, Pilbaraichthys, which is distinguished from other congrogadine genera and subgenera by the following combination of characters: dorsal-fin rays I,57-61 (usually I,59 or I,60); anal-fin ra...

Feia nota is described from the 17.7 mm SL holotype from Bessieres Island, Western Australia. It is distinguished from congeners in having the following characters: pectoral-fin rays 16; no pelvic fraenum; scales mostly ctenoid, extending anteriorly to pectoral-fin axil; scales in lateral series 26-27; tongue slightly bilobed; anterior row of preop...

Pempheris rapa Mooi, n. sp., is distinguished from congeners by the following combination of characters: scales strongly ctenoid and adherent; no gular scales; pelvic axillary scale absent; dorsal fin with six spines; in specimens 35 mm SL or larger, gill-raker counts on first arch 11-13+26-29 = 37-42 (usually 38-40); lateral-line scales 72-84 (rar...

An examination of the osteology and myology of the Champsodontidae reveals a number of, apomorphic features (e.g., double-headed palatine, large pelvic radial, expaxial muscle inserting on the medial pelvic-fin ray, posterior levator internus inserting on the third epibranchial). The evidence for a Champsodontidae/Chiasmodontidae relationship is ex...

A survey of acanthomorphs reveals that epaxialis attachments to distal radials or the distal tips of proximal-middle pterygiophores have a relatively restricted distribution. Four basic morphotypes are recognized: Type 0 - no distal insertions of epaxialis (lampridiforms, polymixiiforms, basal paracanthopterygians, zeiforms, beryciforms, smegmamorp...

Monophyly of a redefined Grammatidae consisting only of Gramma Poey and Lipogramma Böhlke is supported by synapomorphic modification of the cheek musculature: adductor mandibulae with a separate A1β portion lying lateral to the levator arcus palatini. The position of the Grammatidae in the Perciformes remains uncertain. Contrary to recent studies,...

Cladistic methods are used to investigate phylogenetic relationships of the Indo-Pacific marine fish family Plesiopidae. Using multiple outgroups, osteological and myological characters indicate that plesiopids are monophyletic only with the inclusion of the Acanthoclinidae as the sister group to the genus Plesiops. A new classification lowers the...

This study was undertaken to determine the range of consistency index (CI) values obtainable from random data sets. We generated multiple random data matrices for each of 49 different matrix sizes ranging from 5 taxa and 4 (binary) characters to 49 taxa and 124 characters. The CI of the minimum-length tree(s) was calculated for each. CIs decreased...

Three new plesiopid fishes of the genus Plesiops are described. Plesiops gracilis n. sp. is known from the Palau Ids., Yap, New Guinea, Philippines, and Rowley Shoals off Western Australia. It is characterized by having 17-19 pectoral rays, an enlarged anteroventral sensory pore of the preopercular series, and nine pale stripes on the body. It is m...

Differences in shape and arrangement of chorionic projections on the demersal eggs of pseudochromoids were examined using scanning electron microscopy. Eggs of the Pseudochromidae vary from the plesiomorphic condition of pseudochromines, in which filaments attach to the chorion via oblong structures, to the derived condition in pseudoplesiopines an...