Redescription and holotype clarification of Paralichthys orbignyanus (Valenciennes, 1839) (Pleuronectiformes, Paralichthyidae)

DÍAZ DE ASTARLOA, J.M.; MUNROE, T. A.; DESOUTTER, M.

COPEIA

AMER SOC ICHTHYOLOGISTS HERPETOLOGISTS

Lugar: Lawrence, Kansas; Año: 2006 vol. 2006 p. 235 - 243

0045-8511

Collecting by Alcide d´Orbigny in the western South Atlantic provided material for Platessa orbignyana Valenciennes, 1839, published as an illustration of the holotype without accompanying descriptive information. A brief and inadequate description was provided in 1847. Thereafter, the holotype was thought to be lost, precluding comparative study and resulting in nomeclatural confusion for other nominal paralichthyid species. A specimen of Paralichthys collected in the Río de la Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina by d´Orbigny at the Muséum national d´histoire naturelle (MNHN 1999-0295) is here identified as the holotype of Platessa orbignyana Valenciennes, 1839. A redescription of the holotype and comparison with other South Atlantic species resolves several nomenclatural issues.