Belongs within: Gobiidae.
The Gobiodontinae are small, coral-dwelling fishes characterised by a compressed oval body, blunt head, small mouth, and small, lateral gill opening (Smith 1960).
<==GobiodontinaeS60 |--Paragobiodon Bleeker 1873S60 | `--*P. echinocephalus (Rüppell 1828)S60 (see below for synonymy) `--Gobiodon Bleeker 1856S60 |--*G. heterospilus (Bleeker 1856) [=Gobius heterospilus]S60 |--G. albolineatus Smith 1959S59 |--G. citrinus (Rüppell 1828)S60 [=Gobius citrinusS59; incl. Gobiodon hypselopterus Bleeker 1875S59] |--G. fulvus Herre 1927H27 |--G. okinawae Sawada, Arai & Abe 1972MM09 |--G. reticulatus Playfair 1866 [incl. Gobius punctatus Kossman & Rauber 1877]S59 |--G. rivulatus (Ruppell 1828)S60 (see below for synonymy) `--G. spilophthalmus Fowler 1944MM09
Gobiodon rivulatus (Ruppell 1828)S60 [=Gobius rivulatusS59; incl. Gobiodon ceramensis Bleeker 1852S59, Gobiodon coryphaenula Valenciennes 1837S59, Gobiodon erythrophaios Bleeker 1849S59, Gobiodon erythrospilus Bleeker 1875S59, Gobius histrio Valenciennes 1837M58, S59, Gobiodon histrioM58, Gobius quinquestrigatus Valenciennes 1837M58, S59, Gobiodon quinquestrigatusM58, Gobiodon venustus Sauvage 1880S59, Gobiodon verticalis Alleyne & Macleay 1877M58]
*Paragobiodon echinocephalus (Rüppell 1828)S60 [=Gobius echinocephalusS60; incl. Gobius amiciensis Valenciennes 1837M58, S59, Gobiodon melanosoma Bleeker 1852M58, S59, Paragobiodon melanosomaH27, P. melanosomusM58, Gobiodon xanthosoma Bleeker 1859M58, P. xanthosomaH27, P. xanthosomusM58]
*Type species of generic name indicated
References
[H27] Herre, A. W. 1927. Gobies of the Philippines and the China Sea. 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).
[S59] Smith, J. L. B. 1959. Gobioid fishes of the families Gobiidae, Periophthalmidae, Trypauchenidae, Taenioididae and Kraemeriidae of the western Indian Ocean. Ichthyological Bulletin 13: 185–225.
[S60] Smith, J. L. B. 1960. Fishes of the family Gobiidae in South Africa. Ichthyological Bulletin 18: 299–314.