Silver-banded Whiting - Taxonomy and Naming

Taxonomy and Naming

The silver-banded whiting is a one of 29 species of the genus Sillago, one of 3 genera in the smelt-whiting family Sillaginidae, a division of the suborder Percoidei.

The species was first identified and named Sillago argentifasciata by Martin and Montalban in 1935 from the holotype specimen collected in the waters of Lumbucan Island in the Philippines. The common name 'silver-banded whiting' is derived from the longitudinal silver band on the side of the species. The holotype of the species was not examined by McKay in his comprehensive review of the Sillaginidae due to its destruction in World War II, but he proposed that the species may be a senior synonym of S. ingenuua. However, he also noted that the species possessed a number of characters which distinguished it from its relatives and suggested further collecting was needed before the taxonomic status of the species was certain.