Chlorurus

Chlorurus is a genus of parrotfish from the Indian and Pacific Oceans.^[3][4]

Chlorurus
Chlorurus strongylocephalus
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Labriformes
Family:	Labridae
Tribe:	Scarini
Genus:	Chlorurus Swainson, 1839
Type species
Scarus gibbus Rüppell, 1829[1]
Species
See text
Synonyms[2]
Pseudoscarus Bleeker, 1861 Xanothon J.L.B. Smith, 1956 Ypsiscarus Schultz, 1958

Etymology

The word 'Chlorurus' comes from the Greek words 'chloros', which means green and 'oura', which means tail.

Evolution

C. enneacanthus with an initial phase Scarus scaber, in the Maldives

Chlorurus is most closely related to its sister genus Scarus. Most recent phylogenetic analyses find that the two genera diverged during the late Miocene (Messinian).^[5] In both genera, most of their diversification occurred some time later, within the last 3.5 million years during the Pliocene.^[6] In contrast, coral reefs in their modern form were established much earlier, during the Miocene.^[5]

A 2012 phylogenetic analysis of 16 of the 18 Chlorurus species recovered 5 major monophyletic clades.^[5]

Species

There are 18 species:^[4]

Species	Image
Chlorurus atrilunula (Randall & Bruce, 1983)
Chlorurus bleekeri (de Beaufort, 1940)
Chlorurus bowersi (Snyder, 1909)
Chlorurus capistratoides (Bleeker, 1847)
Chlorurus cyanescens (Valenciennes, 1840)
Chlorurus enneacanthus (Lacépède, 1802)
Chlorurus frontalis (Valenciennes, 1840)
Chlorurus genazonatus (Randall & Bruce, 1983)
Chlorurus gibbus (Rüppell, 1829)
Chlorurus japanensis (Bloch, 1789)
Chlorurus microrhinos (Bleeker, 1854)
Chlorurus oedema (Snyder, 1909)
Chlorurus perspicillatus (Steindachner, 1879)
Chlorurus rhakoura Randall & Anderson, 1997
Chlorurus sordidus (Forsskål, 1775)
Chlorurus spilurus (Valenciennes, 1840)
Chlorurus strongylocephalus (Bleeker, 1855)
Chlorurus troschelii (Bleeker, 1853)