Vanneaugobius, Brownell, 1978

Vanneaugobius View in CoL ? sp.

Figure 18k–m View Fig

2013a Nematogobius maindroni (Sauvage, 1880) — Schwarzhans: pl. 13, Figs. 1 View Fig , 2 View Fig .

Material 2 specimens ( SMF PO 101.225 ), Dar bel Hamri, Zanclean .

Discussion Extant otoliths of Vanneaugobius are not well known, and those of other West African gobies such as Didogobius , Ebomegobius , and Wheelerigobius are still unknown. A poorly preserved specimen of V. canariensis Van Tassell, Miller & Brito, 1987 , extracted from USNM 298,746 and a small specimen of V. dollfusi Brownell, 1978 , figured in Lombarte et al. (2006) suggest that these otoliths could belong to an unknown species of the genus Vanneaugobius . Te specimens from the Zanclean of Morocco are characterized by a relatively flat and smooth inner face bearing a small, slightly inclined sulcus with low ostial lobe and no subcaudal iugum. Te same otolith morphotype has also been dredged from Holocene sediments of Guinea and Ivory Coast and has been erroneously identified as Nematogobius maindroni ( Fig. 18m View Fig is refigured from Schwarzhans, 2013a) based on small specimens (the only ones then available). New otoliths of both nominal species extracted from larger specimens exhibited a distinctly different morphology reflecting a remarkable ontogenetic allometry possibly accentuated also by different habitats and water chemistry, as the small otoliths were obtained from freshwater specimens. Te true identity of the Pliocene Moroccan and Holocene dredged Gulf of Guinea specimens remains somewhat obscure, since it is not possible to discern from the few extant otoliths known of Vanneaugobius whether they have or lack a subcaudal iugum.