Priolepis, Valenciennes, 1837

Priolepis View in CoL lineage sensu Agorreta et al., 2013

Otoliths of the Priolepis lineage are characterized by a mostly shallow kidney-shaped sulcus, not the usual gobiid sole-shape outline, and a ventral furrow close to the sulcus and joined to a similarly furrow-like dorsal depression, with the area between the circumsulcal furrow and the sulcus being somewhat elevated. Fossil otoliths have rarely been observed ( Schwarzhans et al., 2020a, 2020b). Most extant taxa occur in the Indo-West Pacific, but the genus Lythrypnus Jordan & Evermann, 1896, is endemic to the Americas, and the genus Priolepis Valenciennes, 1837 , is also represented by one species in the West Atlantic, P. hipoliti (Metzelaar, 1922) ( Fig. 38m View Fig ). Otoliths are only known from a single species of the 20 recognized extant Lythrypnus species ( Fricke et al., 2023), Lythrypnus zebra (Gilbert, 1890) ( Fig. 38i View Fig ). Lythrypnus species inhabit rocky bottoms and reefs and hence are rare in the fossil record of tropical America. Because of the poor knowledge of extant species, the fossil ones can only be generically assigned.