Julidinae
The julidine wrasses are saltwater fish of the subfamily Julidinae, a subgroup of the wrasse family. It contains the highest number of genera and species out of all the wrasse tribes, with 20 genera and over 200 species, comprising almost a third of all wrasse species.
Taxonomy
A 2005 molecular phylogenetic analysis strongly supports the monophyly of this clade. It was formerly treated as the tribe Julidini, but is now recognized as its own subfamily by Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes.It also found that the cleaner wrasse genera that traditionally comprised the tribe Labrichthyini, although forming a monophyletic group, were all nested within Julidini. Labrichthys is the sister group to the other cleaner wrasse genera, and does not act as a cleaner; it is an obligate corallivore for its entire life. Larabicus, Diproctacanthus, and Labropsis are cleaners only as juveniles and feed on corals as adults, while Labroides is a cleaner for its entire life.
The subfamily Pseudolabrinae is likely the sister group of Julidinae, if not nested within the Julidinae; the former is additionally supported by Hughes et al 2023.
Several genera in this tribe are problematic. Most notably, Halichoeres and Coris are paraphyletic or polyphyletic. Gomphosus has also been repeatedly found nested within Thalassoma.
The difficulty in resolving relationships within Julidini is a result of the rapid speciation of julidine wrasses.