small-eyed goby
Austrolethops wardi Whitley, 1935
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
The small-eyed goby (Austrolethops wardi) is a species of goby native to tropical reefs of the Indian Ocean through the western Pacific Ocean where it inhabits areas of coral rubble. As its common name suggests, this species has particularly small eyes. This species grows to a length of 6 centimetres (2.4 in) TL. This species is the only known member of its genus. The small-eyed goby is specialised to feed on seagrass and they share a burrows with mud lobsters of the genus Thalassina. The specific name honours Charles Melbourne Ward (1903–1966), the Australian actor, naturalist and collector of specimens who collected the type specimen.
Wikipedia contributors, Small-eyed goby; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T05:09:32.906450+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Austrolethops wardi Whitley, 1935
- Name authority
- Whitley, 1935
- Common name
- small-eyed goby
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Gobiiformes
- Family
- Gobiidae
- Genus
- Austrolethops
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: no · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderGobiiformes
- familyGobiidae Cuvier, 1816
- subfamilyGobiinae Cuvier, 1816
- genusAustrolethops Whitley, 1935
- speciesAustrolethops wardi Whitley, 1935
Close classified relatives
No other member of this genus is present in the selected snapshot.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- Whitley, G. P. (1935). Studies in ichthyology. No. 9. Records of the Australian Museum, v. 19 (no. 4): 215–250, Pl. 18. Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:JWZ2. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.