Protanguilla palau

Taxonavigation

Taxonavigation: Anguilliformes
Superregnum: Eukaryota Cladus: Podiata Cladus: Amorphea Cladus: Obazoa Cladus: Opisthokonta Cladus: Holozoa Cladus: Filozoa Cladus: Choanozoa Regnum: Animalia Subregnum: Eumetazoa Cladus: ParaHoxozoa Cladus: Bilateria Cladus: Nephrozoa Superphylum: Deuterostomia Phylum: Chordata Cladus: Olfactores Subphylum: Vertebrata Infraphylum: Gnathostomata Cladus: Eugnathostomata Cladus: Osteichthyes Classis: Actinopterygii Classis/Subclassis: Actinopteri Subclassis/Infraclassis: Neopterygii Infraclassis: Teleostei Megacohors: Elopocephalai Supercohors: Elopocephala Cohors/Superordo: Elopomorpha Ordo: Anguilliformes

Familia: Protanguillidae
Genus: Protanguilla
Species: Protanguilla palau

Name

Protanguilla palau Johnson, Ida & Sakaue, 2012

Holotype: NSMT-P 98249
Paratypes: CBM-ZF 12278 (1), 12279 (1); FSKU-P24231(1), P24232 (1); NSMT-P 98250 (1); USNM 396016 (2), 396051 (1), 396052 (1).
Type locality: Underwater cave, western fringing reef of Ngemelis Island, Palau, depth 35 meters.

Note: Appeared first as Protoanguilla palau in electronic version (not nomenclaturally available, also would have been preoccupied) name changed to Protanguilla palau in hard copy version. Name changed because †Protoanguilla is preoccupied in fossil eels.

Etymology: Palau, where the type series was collected, a noun in apposition.

References

Primary references

Johnson, G.D., H. Ida, J. Sakaue, T. Sado, T. Asahida & M. Miya, 2012: A ‘living fossil’ eel (Anguilliformes: Protanguillidae, fam. nov.) from an undersea cave in Palau. Proceedings of the Royal Society (B), 279 (1730): 934–943. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2011.1289

Additional references

Springer, V.G. & Johnson, G.D. 2015. The Gill-Arch Musculature of Protanguilla, the Morphologically Most Primitive Eel (Teleostei: Anguilliformes), Compared with That of Other Putatively Primitive Extant Eels and Other Elopomorphs. Copeia 103(3): 595–620. DOI: 10.1643/CI-14-152 Reference page.

Links

Protanguilla palau in Catalog of Fishes, Eschmeyer, W.N., Fricke, R. & van der Laan, R. (eds.) 2026. Catalog of Fishes electronic version.
Protanguilla palau in FishBase,
Froese, R. & Pauly, D. (eds.) 2026. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication, www.fishbase.org, version 02/2024.
Protanguilla palau – Taxon details on National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI).
Protanguilla palau in the World Register of Marine Species

Vernacular names

English: Palauan primitive cave eel