Chaetodon quadrimaculatus Gray, 1831
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 four-spotted butterflyfish or fourspot butterflyfish (Chaetodon quadrimaculatus) is a species of butterflyfish (family Chaetodontidae) found in the Pacific Ocean from the Ryukyus, Ogasawara (Bonin) Islands and Taiwan to the Hawaiian, Marquesan, and Pitcairn islands, south to the Samoan and Austral Islands and the Marianas and Marshall Islands in Micronesia. The fourspot butterflyfish is a marine coralivorous organism. Therefore, its noted geographic distribution, as well as population-level spatial distribution and temporal variation in density, is correlated to relative distributions and abundance of the corals that butterflyfish are dependent on for food. It is a quite distinct species, but most closely related to the speckled butterflyfish (C. citrinellus). Together they are basal in the subgenus Exornator, and might be intermediate between the core group of this subgenus and the species of the Rhombochaetodon (or Roaops) lineage. If that is correct, the latter would require to be merged into Exornator. If the genus Chaetodon is split up, Exornator might become a subgenus of Lepidochaetodon.
Wikipedia contributors, Fourspot butterflyfish; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T19:16:36.643490+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Chaetodon quadrimaculatus Gray, 1831
- Name authority
- Gray, 1831
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Acanthuriformes
- Family
- Chaetodontidae
- Genus
- Chaetodon
- 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
- orderAcanthuriformes
- familyChaetodontidae Rafinesque, 1815
- genusChaetodon Linnaeus, 1758
- speciesChaetodon quadrimaculatus Gray, 1831
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Chaetodon. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| bluelashed butterflyfishChaetodon bennetti Cuvier, 1831 | ChaetodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| threadfin butterflyfishChaetodon auriga Forsskål, 1775 | ChaetodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Chaetodon miliaris Quoy & Gaimard, 1825 | ChaetodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Pacific doublesaddle butterflyfishChaetodon ulietensis Cuvier, 1831 | ChaetodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Chaetodon baronessa Cuvier, 1829 | ChaetodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Chaetodon oxycephalus Bleeker, 1853 | ChaetodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| teardrop butterflyfishChaetodon unimaculatus Bloch, 1787 | ChaetodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Chaetodon adiergastos Seale, 1910 | ChaetodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Chaetodon argentatus Smith & Radcliffe, 1911 | ChaetodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Chaetodon burgessi Allen & Starck, 1973 | ChaetodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Chaetodon citrinellus Cuvier, 1831 | ChaetodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Chaetodon daedalma Jordan & Fowler, 1902 | ChaetodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Chaetodon quadromaculatus Gray, 1831 Gray, 1831 | synonym |
| Heterochaetodon lepidochaetodon quadrimaculatus (Gray, 1831) (Gray, 1831) | synonym |
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.
- Gray, J. E. (1831). Description of three new species of fish from the Sandwich islands, in the British Museum. Zoological Miscellany, [No. 1]: 33. 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:TC45. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.