Festucalex bifasciatus, a new pipefish (Teleostei: Syngnathidae) from northern Australia

The new pipefish Festucalex bifasciatussp. nov., described from eight specimens [89.8-152.8 mm standard length (SL)] collected from Western Australia and Queensland, Australia, and most closely resembling F. cinctus (Ramsay 1882) (11 specimens, 48.8-126.8 mm SL) and F. scalaris (Günther 1870) (10 specimens, 45.4-162.7 mm SL), differs from all members of Festucalex in having 19 or 20 trunk rings; 34-38 tail rings; 24-28 dorsal-fin rays; 12-15 pectoral-fin rays; snout length (SnL) 46.4-52.6% of head length (HL); snout depth 17.8-22.7% of SnL; postorbital length 60.0-74.6% of SnL; lateral trunk ridge ending at second or third tail ring; subadults and adults with or without indistinct ridges on pectoral-fin base; principal ridges of last 1 or 2 tail rings with 1-7 knobs or projections; and opercle with 2 white bars (2 pale bars in preserved specimens). The new species was mostly collected by dredge at depths of 9-81 m. Among all congeners, only F. cinctus shares with the new species the presence of knobbed principal tail ridges, and the two taxa have a broadly overlapping distribution in Australian waters, suggesting a close phylogenetic relationship.