Description of three new species previously identified as Stolephorus bengalensis (Dutt & Babu Rao, 1959) or Stolephorus insularis Hardenberg, 1933 and a re-description of S. bengalensis (Chordata, Osteichthyes, Clupeiformes, Engraulidae)

Examination of numerous specimens characterised by predorsal scute, long maxilla, indented preopercle and pelvic scute lacking a spine and previously identified as Stolephorus bengalensis (Dutt & Babu Rao, 1959) or Stolephorus insularis Hardenberg, 1933, revealed four distinct species, true S. bengalensis (distrib-uted from the Bay of Bengal to Pakistan) and three new species, viz., Stolephorus eldorado sp. nov. (Taiwan to Java, Indonesia), Stolephorus diabolus sp. nov. (Strait of Malacca, from Penang , Malaysia, to Singapore) and Stolephorus eclipsis sp. nov. (Bintan Island, Riau Archipelago, Indonesia). Characters separating the four species include numbers of gill rakers on each gill arch and vertebrae and pelvic fin and dorsal-fin ray lengths. Two molecular markers (mitochondrial cytochrome b and cytochrome oxidase I genes) demon-strated the distinction of three of the species examined morphologically and enabled a reconstruction of their phylogenetic relationships. Each species was genetically divergent from the others by 3.5%-7.7% mean uncorrected distance in the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I gene.