Belongs within: Chrominae.
Chromis is a pantropical genus of damselfishes commonly possessing an elongate body and relatively small mouth (Allen 1975).
Characters (from Allen 1975): Dorsal spines XII to XIV; two to three spiniform procurrent caudal rays; hind edge of preopercle usually entire, occasionally with minute serrations; teeth of jaws small and conical, outer row of enlarged teeth and irregular band of villiform teeth behind; edge of suborbital entire or hidden by scales; scale rows in longitudinal series from upper edge of operculum to base of caudal fin less than 30.
Chromis Cuvier 1814AE09 (see below for synonymy)
|--C. viridis (Cuvier 1830)TMH04, MM09 [=Pomacentrus viridisS60]
`--+--C. analis (Cuvier 1830)TMH04, A01 [=Heliases analisS60, Dorychromis analisM58]
`--+--C. fumea (Tanaka 1917)TMH04, MM09
`--Azurina hirundoTMH04
Chromis incertae sedis:
0--*C. chromis (Linnaeus 1758)S60, DS06 [=Sparus chromisPEG08]
`--C. limbata (Valenciennes 1833)DS06
C. abyssicola Allen & Randall 1985A01
C. abyssus Pyle, Earle & Greene 2008PEG08
C. acares Randall & Swerdloff 1973A01
C. agilis Smith 1960S60
C. alleni Randall, Ida & Moyer 1981A01
C. alpha Randall 1988A01
C. amboinensis (Bleeker 1873)A75 (see below for synonymy)
C. atripectoralis Welander & Schultz 1951MM09
C. atripes Fowler & Bean 1928MM09
C. axillaris (Bennett 1831) [=Heliastes axillaris]S60
C. brevirostris Pyle, Earle & Greene 2008PEG08
‘Lepidochromis’ brunneus Smith 1960S60
C. caudalis Randall 1988A01
C. caerulea (Cuvier 1830)A75 (see below for synonymy)
C. chrysura (Bliss 1883)A01 (see below for synonymy)
C. cinctus (Playfair 1867) [=Heliastes cinctus]S60
C. cinerascens (Cuvier 1830)A01 [=Heliases cinerascensS60]
C. circumaurea Pyle, Earle & Greene 2008PEG08
C. degruyi Pyle, Earle & Greene 2008PEG08
C. delta Randall 1988A01
C. dimidiata (Klunzinger 1871)A01 [=Heliastes dimidiatusM58]
C. earina Pyle, Earle & Greene 2008PEG08
C. elerae Fowler & Bean 1928A01
C. flavicauda (Günther 1880)PEG08
C. flavipectoralis Randall 1989A01
C. flavomaculata Kamohara 1960A01
C. hanui Randall & Swerdloff 1973A75
C. hypsilepis (Günther 1867) [=Heliastes hypsilepis]A75
‘*Heliases’ insolatusM28
C. kennensis Whitley 1964A75
C. klunzingeri Whitley 1929A01
C. lepidolepis Bleeker 1877A01 [=*Lepidochromis lepidolepisS60]
C. leucura Gilbert 1905 [=C. leucurus]A75
C. lineata Fowler & Bean 1928 [=C. lineatus]A75
C. margaritifer Fowler 1946 [=C. dimidiatus margaritifer]A75
C. mirationis Tanaka 1917 [incl. C. megalopsis Allen 1976]PEG08
C. nigroanalis Randall 1988PEG08
C. nigrura Smith 1960A01
C. nitida (Whitley 1928) [=Tetradrachmum nitidum]A75
C. okamurai Yamakawa & Randall 1989PEG08
C. onumai Senou & Kudo 2007PEG08
C. opercularis (Günther in Playfair & Günther 1867)PEG08 [=Heliastes opercularisS60]
C. ovalis (Steindachner 1900) [=Heliastes ovalis; incl. C. velox Jenkins 1901]A75
C. ovatiformis Fowler 1946PEG08
C. pembae Smith 1960S60
C. planesi Lecchini & Williams 2004PEG08
‘*Furcaria’ punctamultilineatusM28
‘*Ayresia’ punctipinnisM28
C. randalli Greenfield & Hensley 1970A75
C. retrofasciata Weber 1913 [=C. retrofasciatus]A75
C. savornini Arambourg 1927P93
C. scotochiloptera Fowler 1918A01
C. simulans Smith 1960S60
C. struhsakeri Randall & Swerdloff 1973PEG08
C. ternatensis (Bleeker 1856)S60 [=Heliases ternatensisA75; incl. C. philippinus Fowler 1918M28]
C. vanderbilti Fowler 1941 [=Pycnochromis vanderbilti]A75
C. verater Jordan & Metz 1912A75
C. weberi Fowler & Bean 1928MM09
C. westaustralis Allen 1976A01
C. woodsi Bruner & Arnam 1979PEG08
C. xanthochir (Bleeker 1851) [=Heliases xanthochir]A75
C. xanthurus (Bleeker 1854) [=Heliases xanthurus]M28
Chromis Cuvier 1814AE09 [incl. Actinochromis Bleeker 1877S60, Ayresia Cooper 1863M28, Dorychromis Fowler & Bean 1928A75, Furcaria Poey 1860M28, Heliases Cuvier 1830S60, HeliastesM28, Hoplochromis Fowler 1918S60, Lepicephalochromis Fowler 1943A75, Lepidochromis Fowler & Bean 1928S60, Pycnochromis Fowler 1941A75, Thrissochromis Fowler 1941A75]
Chromis amboinensis (Bleeker 1873)A75 [=Heliases amboinensisA75; incl. Glyphidodon bimaculatus Macleay 1883A75, Abudefduf bimaculatusM58, Chromis fragoris Whitley 1964A75]
Chromis caerulea (Cuvier 1830)A75 [=Heliases caeruleusS60, Hoplochromis caeruleusM58; incl. Glyphisodon bandanensis Bleeker 1851M28, Dascyllus cyanurus Ruppell 1835S60, He. frenatus Sauvage 1891S60, He. lepisurus Cuvier & Valenciennes 1830M58, Chromis lepisurusS60, C. lepidurus (l. c.)S60, Heliases lepidurus (l. c.)S60]
Chromis chrysura (Bliss 1883)A01 [=Heliastes chrysurusS60; incl. Chromis isharae Schmidt 1930A75, Siphonochromis lepidostethicus Fowler 1946A75, Lepicephalochromis westalli Whitley 1964A75]
*Type species of generic name indicated
References
[A75] Allen, G. R. 1975. Damselfishes of the South Seas. T.F.H.
[AE09] Allen, G. R., & M. V. Erdmann. 2009. A new species of damselfish (Pomacentrus: Pomacentridae) from western New Guinea. Records of the Western Australian Museum 25 (2): 121–126.
[A01] Allen, J. R. 2001. Pomacentridae. Damselfishes (anemonefishes). In: Carpenter, K. E., & V. H. Niem (eds) FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes. The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific vol. 5. Bony fishes part 3 (Menidae to Pomacentridae) pp. 3337–3356. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations: Rome.
[DS06] Domingues, V. S., R. S. Santos, A. Brito & V. C. Almada. 2006. Historical population dynamics and demography of the eastern Atlantic pomacentrid Chromis limbata (Valenciennes, 1833). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 40 (1): 139–147.
[M28] Montalban, H. R. 1928. Pomacentridae of the Philippine Islands. Bureau of Printing: Manila.
[MM09] Moore, G., & S. Morrison. 2009. Fishes of three North West Shelf atolls of Western Australia: Mermaid (Rowley Shoals), Scott and Seringapatam Reefs. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 77: 221–255.
[M58] Munro, I. S. R. 1958. The fishes of the New Guinea region: a check-list of the fishes of New Guinea incorporating records of species collected by the Fisheries Survey Vessel “Fairwind” during the years 1948 to 1950. Papua and New Guinea Agricultural Journal 10 (4): 97–369 (reprinted: 1958. Territory of Papua and New Guinea Fisheries Bulletin no. 1).
[P93] Patterson, C. 1993. Osteichthyes: Teleostei. In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Fossil Record 2 pp. 621–656. Chapman & Hall: London.
[PEG08] Pyle, R. L., J. L. Earle & B. D. Greene. 2008. Five new species of the damselfish genus Chromis (Perciformes: Labroidei: Pomacentridae) from deep coral reefs in the tropical western Pacific. Zootaxa 1671: 3–31.
[S60] Smith, J. L. B. 1960. Coral fishes of the family Pomacentridae from the western Indian Ocean and the Red Sea. Ichthyological Bulletin 19: 317–349.
[TMH04] Tang, K. L., K. M. McNyset & N. I. Holcroft. 2004. The phylogenetic position of five genera (Acanthochromis, Azurina, Chrysiptera, Dischistodus, and Neopomacentrus) of damselfishes (Perciformes: Pomacentridae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 30: 823–828.