A checklist of the damselfishes of the world, family Pomacentridae, is presented. A total of 798 nominal species belonging to 423 valid species and 29 genera is included. Most of the species are grouped in five genera: Chromis (109 species), Pomacentrus (82), Chrysiptera (40), Stegastes (39), and Amphiprion (29), but 12 genera contain only one or two species. The following main taxonomic decisions are taken: Chrysiptera personata Fowler, 1946 is a new synonym of Chrysiptera rex (Snyder 1909); Dischistodus notophthalmus (Bleeker, 1853) is the valid name for the species known as Dischistodus melanotus (Bleeker, 1858). Chaetodon rotundus Linnaeus, 1758 and Chaetodon rotundatus Lacepède, 1802 are senior synonyms of Abudefduf bengalensis (Bloch, 1787). Perca japonica Bloch, 1792 is a senior synonym of Chromis notata (Temminck and Schlegel, 1843); Pomacentrus niomatus De Vis, 1884 is a senior synonym of Stegastes fasciolatus (Ogilby, 1889); Glyphisodon sculptus Peters, 1855 is a senior synonym of Abudefduf notatus (Day, 1870). All these senior synonyms are herein regarded as nomina oblita. Neopomacentrus flavicauda is proposed as nomen novum Neopomacentrus xanthurus Allen and Randall, 1980. Stegastes adustus (Troschel, 1865) is the valid name for the species known as Stegastes dorsopunicans (Poey, 1868) and Wangia Fowler, 1954 is an available name not invalidated by Wanga Chen 1943.
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