Apistogramma megaptera

[cichla]

Apistogramma megaptera (Perciformes:Cichlidae), una nueva especie para la cuenca del Orinoco.
see pages 19-29 ---> http://www.humboldt.org.co/publicacione ... -junio.pdf

[cichla]

Lina M. Mesa S. y Carlos A. Lasso 2011 REVISIÓN DEL GÉNERO Apistogramma REGAN 1913 (PERCIFORMES, CICHLIDAE) EN LA CUENCA DEL RÍO ORINOCO
Apistogramma caudomaculata
Apistogramma flabellicauda ez
Apistogramma intermedia
Apistogramma minima
Apistogramma nororientalis
Apistogramma pedunculata
Apistogramma piaroa

[Juan Artigas]

Thanks Rico,

I read it is quite similar to Apistogramma brevis. Has this species had been known before with another name?

[Florent]

I only found one picture of the 2011's new species

Apistogramma pedunculata

[Rafael.]

Hi all.

Juan:

Apistogramma megaptera sp. nov. es conocida en la literatura acuarófila como Apistogramma Beitbinder sp. (http://www.aquatic-experts.com, consultada el 07 de abril de 2011). ..

I guess this is apisto A nº 164. Mike Wise: is this correct?

Rafael.

[Bojan Dolenc]

...
I guess this is apisto A nº 164....
Rafael.

It seems this is A. sp. 'breitbinden' A164



http://natureplanet.blogspot.com/

A spectacular form of Apistogramma sp. (cf.) "Breitbinden" (Colombia).
These wonderful fishes were collected in a small tributary to the Rio Inirida in July 2010, only about 1 km. from the presumed new species below.

A new(?) Apistogramma-brevis-group species intermediate between
A. sp. "Breitbinden" and A. personata.
This probably new species was collected in a small tributary to the Rio Inirida, Colombia, in June 2010.
http://apisto.sites.no/resizeimage.aspx ... 20H.%20Gil

[Mike Wise]

I am only part of the way through translating the A. megaptera paper into English. From what I read now, it does appear to be the Orinoco form that is now called A. sp. "Breitbinden". A. sp. "Blutkehl" is another brevis-group species from Colombia. I don't know yet if they included this form with Breitbinden in A. megaptera. It does not include the "cf. Breitbinden' forms found in the Rio Negro, however. I only quickly looked at the other paper. It may be a while before I am completely through the 192 pages.The photo of A. pedunculata appears to be the same fish as A. sp. "Caura", but have not read the description. Therefore I am not positive. I also have an uneasy feeling that some of the new species might be synonyms of each other. A. intermedia appears to be a new small pertensis-complex form. That is all that I can say now.

[cichla]

Thank you, Mike. I would like to read a comprehensive expertise about this revision. Which species are already known from hobby books and which taxa are (possibly) synonyms. Greetings, IS

[Bojan Dolenc]

Revision of the genus Apistogramma in the Orinoco River basin / Lina M.Mesa S.; Carlos Andrés Lasso Alcalá. --Bogotá: Instituto Humboldt, 2011.
ABSTRACT
The alpha taxonomy of the genus Apistogramma, with some 72 species described in the Neotropics, is yet to be resolved. Work on this genus consists mostly of isolated species descriptions, many of which lack a standardized description protocol that would permit their identification or comparison with the many as yet undescribed species that are being discovered. A large part of the problem is due to the morphological uniformity that characterizes many species of Perciformes, for which morphometric and meristic characters widely overlap. This objective of this investigation is to clarify the taxonomy of the species of Apistogramma that occur in the Orinoco Basin, where up until now, only nine species have been described, a number far inferior to the true species richness present. To that end, traditional counts and measurements were combined with novel characters to calculate both the standard character set as well as new proportional ratios that have revealed the differences among the species present. Color and pigmentation pattern was also found to be most useful for differentiating the Orinoco Basin species of Apistogramma. Our results show that there are actually 18 species present in the Orinoco Basin.
To study them, and describe the new species, we developed a standard protocol using novel measurements and proportions to complement the traditional character set used previously with this group.
The geographic distribution of these species reflects the paleohydrography from the Miocene configuration of the Orinoco Basin. We found that species now restricted to the Guyana Shield are more closely related to their Amazon Basin counterparts – perhaps reflecting ties existing before the uprising of the Vaupes Arch– and also, species with wide geographic distributions in the northern and westernparts of the basin, a result of swampy environments that were very abundant in that epoch. Ten species have been described from the Orinoco Basin: Apistogramma hoignei Meinken 1965; A. macmasteri Kullander 1979; A. viejita Kullander 1979; A. hongsloi Kullander 1979; A. iniridae Kullander 1979; A. guttata Antonio, Kullander and Lasso 1989; A. inornata Staeck 2003; A. velifera Staeck 2003; A. alacrina Kullander 2004 and Apistogramma megaptera Mesa and Lasso 2011.
Eight new species are described herein: Apistogramma piaroa sp. nov. (lower Ventuari, lower Guaviare, Autana and Cataniapo Rivers); Apistogramma flabellicauda sp. nov. (lower and middle Ventuari, upper Orinoco above its confluence with the Ventuari and Autana River); Apistogramma lineata sp. nov. (lower Atabapo); Apistogramma minima sp. nov. (lower Capanaparo River, area around Puerto Ayacucho in the Puente Paria River, middle Ventuari and upper Orinoco Rivers in creeks around the interior delta of the Orinoco-Ventuari before its confluence with the Bita and Guaviare Rivers); Apistogramma caudomaculata sp. nov. (Candela, Arature, Upata and Caura Rivers); Apistogramma intermedia sp. nov. (Caura River and Orinoco River Delta); Apistogramma nororientalis sp. nov. (rivers draining into the Gulf of Paria - San Juan River and Orinoco River (Uracoa River) and Apistogramma pedunculata sp. nov. (Cataniapo and Caura Rivers)-

[Mike Wise]

Thank you, Mike. I would like to read a comprehensive expertise about this revision. Which species are already known from hobby books and which taxa are (possibly) synonyms. Greetings, IS

I have only read closely the descriptions for half of the species. In my opinion and only mine, I believe that the following are accurate:

Apistogramma megaptera = A. cf. sp. Breitbinden (Kurzlappen) A 166, but not A. sp. Breitbinden A 164-165. If I translated the description of the species' dorsal fin correctly: Dorsal fin (male): 6 anterior dorsal spines long with lappets of D III - V 2X the height of spines. Remaining spines lower and even. Tip of soft rays pointed; extends to middle of caudal fin when folded. Narrow (fine), black pigmented border. A. cf. sp. Breitbinden (Kurzlappen) A 166 corresponds with the written description. The original Breitbinden A 164-165 show extended lappets on all of the spines.

Apistogramma piaroa = A. sp. Ventuari 1/A. cf. pertensis Orangesaum A 151

Apistogramma flabellicauda = "A. uaupesi" A 156 (Bork photo) in DATZ Sonderheft; previously considered a form of A. uaupesi

Apistogramma lineata - New species (close to A. iniridae & A. sp. Blutkehl). Although not likely, it is possible that this species is the same as A. sp. Blutkehl A 157. A. sp. Blutkehl males have lyretails when mature, but round/truncate tails as juveniles.

Apistogramma minima = A. sp. Tavi/A. sp. Weißsaum A 141

Now I need to review the macmasteri-complex species. More to follow ...

[cichla]

Very informative, Mike, thank you. Hope to read more about the 'macmasteri' soon
The ''A'' numbers refers to which work/book/article?
Thanks, IS

[Florent]

Thanks Mike, I just have to update my Datz South American Dwarf Cichlid !

[Mike Wise]

I finally translated and examined each of the new species. This is what I believe is accurate:

Apistogramma megaptera = A 166 A. cf. sp. Breitbinden (Kurzlappen)

Apistogramma piaroa = A 151 A. cf. pertensis Orangesaum / A. sp. Ventuari 1 (Mimbon)

Apistogramma flabellicauda = A 156 (Bork photo only); previously considered a form of A. uaupesi

Apistogramma lineata = New species (close to A. iniridae & A. sp. Blutkehl)

Apistogramma minima = A 141 A. sp. Weißsaum / A. sp. Tavi

Apistogramma caudomaculata = New species, possibly the same as “A. hoignei (Uracoa)" that I received from a friend who collected it in the Rio Uracoa in the early 1990s. I need to find my slides of this fish to be certain.

Apistogramma intermedia = New species close to A. hoignei

Apistogramma nororientalis = New species close to A. hoignei

Apistogramma pedunculata = A. sp. Caura

The "A-numbers" are the numbers used in the DATZ Sonderheft "Südamerikanische Zwergcichliden / South American Dwarf Cichlids".

[cichla]

Very helpful and informative, thank you Mike.

[cichla]

A. diplotaenia is not included, but it is also distributed in the Orinoco drainage (see Staeck 2003). There are descriptions of new species closely related to A. uapesi, but uapesi is not even mentioned in the book. There are no descriminations between the Apistogramma species of the upper Rio Orinoco and those from the upper Rio Negro (e.g. uapesi, brevis). However, it is known that many fish species occurring in the upper Rio Negro are also distributed in the upper Orinoco.

@Mike: is it possible that there are ''so many'' similar species of the hoignei-complex are distributed side by side in the middle and lower Orinoco drainage?

[Mike Wise]

There are several species/forms that the authors did not include. I, like Ingo Koslowski, believe that A. hongsloi (sensu lato) is actually a complex of similar, but separate species. The type material that was collected by Hongslo in the Río Guajarro of Colombia show differences from those discussed by Mesa & Lasso from the Ríos Suapore and Cataniapo of Venezuela. There still is a problem with A. alacrina. Is it 1 species or many? And are some of the paratypes the same species as the holotype? The authors also missed the other A. diplotaeniata-like species, from the Río Ventuari. As for the A. hoignei-like species, I would agree that the new species are different from the holotypes of A. hoignei described by Meinken (I tend to consider populations, if they are different from other nearby populations and all in the population are meristically the same). A. hoignei needs a serious redescription effort from new specimens collected from the type locality. Meinken's 'male' holotype is actually a female. It and the paratype were kept for a period in an aquarium and preserved when they died. Species kept in an aquarium often show morphological difference from fish from the wild.

[cichla]

Thanks. The species A. viejita is characterized by the presence of abdominal stripes (''líneas abdominales longitudinales presentes'' Mesa & Lasso 2011) and a ''lateral band formed from distinct spot elements'' (Kullander 1977). But the specimens labeled as Apistogramma viejita in Fig. 50 (Mesa & Lasso 2011) does not possess such pattern. Greetings, IS

[Mike Wise]

Since you brought it up, I don't think that the fish used by the authors are the same species as A. viejita. The body appears too deep/high-backed for A. viejita. It appears more like A. sp. Schwarzkehl to me. I need to check their description again.

[DRE]

Is the paper available in English somewhere?

[Mike Wise]

No English translation exists that I am aware of, only the original in Spanish. Sorry.