Histoire Naturelle des Poissons with Achille Valenciennes in 1829, also erecting the genus Sillaginodes in this work. The species Cheilodipterus panijus was named in 1822 by Francis Buchanan-Hamilton and was subsequently reexamined by Theodore Gill in 1861, leading to the creation of the monotypic genus Sillaginopsis. John Richardson was the first to propose that Sillago, the only genus of sillaginid then recognised, be assigned to their own taxonomic family, "Sillaginidae" (used interchangeably with 'Sillaginoidae'), at a meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. There were, however, many differing opinions on the relationships of the "sillaginoids", leading to the naturalists of the day continually revising the position of the five genera, placing in them in a number of families. The first review of the sillaginid fishes was Gill's 1861 work "Synopsis of the sillaginoids", in which the name "Sillaginidae" was popularized and expanded on to include Sillaginodes and Sillaginopsis, however the debate on the placement of the family remained controversial. In the years after Gill's paper was published, over 30 'new' species of sillaginids were reported and scientifically described, many of which were synonyms of previously described species, with similarity between species, as well as minor geographical variation confounding taxonomists. In 1985, Roland McKay of the Queensland Museum published a comprehensive review of the family to resolve these relationships, although a number of species are still listed as doubtful, with McKay unable to locate the holotypes. Along with the review of previously described species, McKay described an additional seven species, a number of which he described as subspecies. After this 1985 paper, additional specimens came to light, proving that all the subspecies he had identified were individual species. In 1992, McKay published a synopsis of the Sillaginidae for the FAO, in which he elevated these subspecies to full species status. The name "Sillaginidae" was derived from Cuvier's Sillago, which itself takes its name from a locality in Australia, possibly Sillago reef off the coast of Queensland. The term "sillago" is derived from the Greek term syllego, which means "to meet". Classification The following is a comprehensive list of the 35 known extant species of sillaginids, with a number of the species still in doubt due to the loss of the holotype specimen. This classification follows Fishbase, which itself is based on McKay's last revision of the family. Family SILLAGINIDAE Genus Sillaginodes Sillaginodes punctatus Cuvier, 1829 (King George whiting)