Bathyaploactis

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Megaclassis: Osteichthyes
Superclassis/Classis: Actinopterygii
Classis/Subclassis: Actinopteri
Subclassis/Infraclassis: Neopterygii
Infraclassis: Teleostei
Megacohors: Osteoglossocephalai
Supercohors: Clupeocephala
Cohors: Euteleosteomorpha
Subcohors: Neoteleostei
Infracohors: Eurypterygia
Sectio: Ctenosquamata
Subsectio: Acanthomorphata
Divisio/Superordo: Acanthopterygii
Ordo: Scorpaeniformes
Subordo: Scorpaenoidei

Familia: Aploactinidae
Subfamilia: Bathyaploactininae
Genus: Bathyaploactis

Species: B. curtisensis – B. ornatissima
Name

Bathyaploactis Whitley, 1933

Type species: Bathyaploactis curtisensis Whitley, 1933

Synonyms

Karumba Whitley, 1966

References

Whitley, G.P. 1933. Studies in ichthyology. No. 7. Records of the Australian Museum 19(1): 60–112, pls. 11–15. Full article (PDF). Reference page.

Bathyaploactis is a genus of marine ray-finned fish, velvetfish belonging to the family Aploactinidae. The genus is endemic to the waters around Australia.

Taxonomy

Bathyaploactis was first described as a genus in 1933 by the Australian ichthyologist Gilbert Percy Whitley when he described Bathyaploactis curtisensis, with two subspecies B.c. curtisensis and B.c ornatissima, which are now considered to be valid species. The type locality of this new species was given as off Gatcombe Head, Port Curtis in Queensland.[1][2] The genus Bathyaploactis is classified within the family Aploactinidae in the suborder Scorpaenoidei within the order Scorpaeniformes,[3] although this family is also treated as a subfamily of the stonefish family Synanceiidae[4][5] within the Scorpaenoidei, which in turn is treated as a superfamily within the order Perciformes.[6] The name of the genus, Bathyaploactis prefixes the name of the closely related genus Aploactis with bathy meaning “deep”. Whitley did not explain this but it is thought that he was referring to this taxon being found in deeper water than Aploactis.[7]
Species

There are currently two recognized species in this genus:[8]

Bathyaploactis curtisensis Whitley, 1933 (Port Curtis mossback)
Bathyaploactis ornatissima Whitley, 1933 (Ornate velvetfish)

Distribution

Bathyaploactis velvetfishes are found along the northern coasts of Australia. [2]
References

Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Aploactininae". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 24 April 2022.
Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Bathyaploactis". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
J. S. Nelson; T. C. Grande; M. V. H. Wilson (2016). Fishes of the World (5th ed.). Wiley. pp. 468–475. ISBN 978-1-118-34233-6.
Smith, W. Leo; Smith, Elizabeth; Richardson, Clara (February 2018). "Phylogeny and Taxonomy of Flatheads, Scorpionfishes, Sea Robins, and Stonefishes (Percomorpha: Scorpaeniformes) and the Evolution of the Lachrymal Saber". Copeia. 106 (1): 94–119. doi:10.1643/CG-17-669.
Willingham, AJ (13 April 2018). "Stonefish are already scary, and now scientists have found they have switchblades in their heads". CNN.
Ricardo Betancur-R; Edward O. Wiley; Gloria Arratia; et al. (2017). "Phylogenetic classification of bony fishes". BMC Evolutionary Biology. 17 (162). doi:10.1186/s12862-017-0958-3. PMC 5501477.
Christopher Scharpf & Kenneth J. Lazara, eds. (10 March 2022). "Order Perciformes (Part 10): Suborder Scorpaenoidei: Families Apistidae, Tetrarogidae, Synanceiidae, Aploacrinidae, Perryenidae, Eschmeyeridae, Pataecidae, Gnathanacanthidae, Congiopodidae and Zanclorhynchidae". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 22 April 2022.
Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2012). Species of Bathyaploactis in FishBase. December 2012 version.