Melichthys (subgenus of Balistes) Swainson [W.] 1839:194, 325 Masc. Balistes ringens Osbeck (not of Linnaeus) 1765 (= Balistes niger Bloch 1786). Type by subsequent designation. Type designated by Bleeker 1866:10 [ref. 417] as "Balistes ringens Osb." Possibly based on a misidentified type species. Melanichthys Günther 1870:212, 227 [ref. 1995] (not of Temminck & Schlegel) apparently is an unjustified emendation. •Valid as Melichthys Swainson 1839 -- (Randall & Klausewitz 1973:58 [ref. 7581], Matsuura 1980:40 [ref. 6943], Tyler 1980:120 [ref. 4477], Arai 1983:199 [ref. 14249], Matsuura in Masuda et al. 1984:358 [ref. 6441], Smith & Heemstra 1986:879 [ref. 5714], Lindberg et al. 1997:60 [ref. 23547], Matsuura 2001:3912 [ref. 26315], Matsuura 2003:1964 [ref. 27119], Allen et al. 2006:1872 [ref. 29098], Matsuura 2014:7 [ref. 33576], Motomura et al. 2017:230 [ref. 35490], Fricke et al. 2018:377 [ref. 35805], Brown et al. 2019:182 [ref. 36444], Fricke et al. 2019:321 [ref. 36673], Parenti 2021:654 [ref. 38921]). Current status: Valid as Melichthys Swainson 1839. Balistidae.