Aluterus

Aluterus
Temporal range:
Aluterus monoceros
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Tetraodontiformes
Family: Monacanthidae
Genus: Aluterus
Cloquet, 1816
Synonyms
  • Davidia Miranda Ribeiro[1]

Aluterus is a genus of filefishes. This genus is larger-bodied than many other monacanthids, with Aluterus scriptus being the largest filefish species,[2] reaching 1.1 metres (3 ft 7 in) in total length.[3]

Taxonomy

There are currently 4 recognized extant species in this genus:[4]

Species Common name Image
Aluterus heudelotii

Hollard, 1855

Dotterel filefish
Aluterus monoceros

Linnaeus, 1758

Unicorn leatherjacket filefish
Aluterus schoepfii

Walbaum, 1792

Orange filefish
Aluterus scriptus

Osbeck, 1765

Scribbled leatherjacket filefish

The fossil species Aluterus shigensis Miyajima, Koike & Matsuoka, 2014 is known from the Middle Miocene of Nagano, Japan.[5]

The following cladogram is based on a 2016 molecular study of filefish and triggerfish (Balistidae):[2]

Aluterus

References

  1. ^ "Davidia Miranda Ribeiro, 1915". Integrated Taxonomic Information System.
  2. ^ a b "Phylogenetic relationships and the evolution of BMP4 in triggerfishes and filefishes (Balistoidea)". Elsevier Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 94. January 2016. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2015.09.014.
  3. ^ "Aluterus scriptus (Osbeck, 1765) Scrawled Filefish". FishBase. Retrieved 7 February 2026.
  4. ^ Matsuura, K. (2014): Taxonomy and systematics of tetraodontiform fishes: a review focusing primarily on progress in the period from 1980 to 2014. Ichthyological Research, 62 (1): 72-113.
  5. ^ Miyajima, Yusuke; Koike, Hakuichi; Matsuoka, Hiroshige (2014-04-10). "First fossil occurrence of a filefish (Tetraodontiformes; Monacanthidae) in Asia, from the Middle Miocene in Nagano Prefecture, central Japan". Zootaxa. 3786 (3): 382–400. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3786.3.7. ISSN 1175-5334. PMID 24869542.