New Laetacara and new Apistogramma

[Philippe Burnel]

Apistogramma allpahuayo
http://www.vertebrate-zoology.de/vz62-2 ... 89-212.pdf


Laetacara flamannellus
http://www.vertebrate-zoology.de/vz62-2 ... 81-188.pdf

[cichla]

thanks Philippe.

eleven authors. Is it a new World Record?

[Microman]

Looks like Uwe has mentioned the whole LMI-EDIA-project team as authors as well as David Soares.
Mark...

[cichla]

Looks like Uwe has mentioned the whole LMI-EDIA-project team as authors as well as David Soares.
Mark...

Yes, seems that he has the ambition to keep a lot of friends.
Anyway, we have indeed a new World Record (at least for ichthyology) for the number of authors.

[michi tobler]

Too bad biostatisticians seem to have a hard time finding friends.... Nice to see taxonomic work with excellent color photos though.
Cheers, m

[cichla]

Nice to see taxonomic work with excellent color photos though. Cheers, m

Yes, I think, Vertebrate Zoology is a good place for such stuff. And best, all article are readable for free.

[Rico Morgenstern]

The new Laetacara has only four authors

Had I seen the picture of the live fish without any information, I would perhaps unhesitatingly have identified it as L. curviceps. Nevertheless I have not yet seen one with that yellow - orange area in the dorsal fin, which is the most important character of L. flamannelus. The reddish anal and caudal fin bases supposedly typical to L. curviceps are not always seen in that species; and this character is variable in L. araguaiae and L. dorsigera as well. The squamation characters are so subtle that they can probably be ignored, particularly since the authors themselves have demonstrated (p. 187) that the ctenii on the scales are easily overlooked. Consequently, the validity of the new species seems to rest on a single color trait.

It is certainly legitimate to employ life color characters, which may be as informative as morphological or preserved coloration (mostly melanin pattern) characters. And if we compare L. curviceps with L. dorsigera, there are also little more than live coloration to distinguish them. However, there are several objections:

(1) The type locality of L. curviceps is known no more precicely than Amazon River. The description is is based on aquarium specimens. As both L. curviceps and L. flamannellus occur in the Amazon river drainage, the the identity of the 'true' L. curviceps should have been comprehensibly demonstrated before new species are added.

(2) The varibality of live colors of L. curviceps is insufficiently documented.

(3) There may be intermediary forms.

Alltogether, I would regard the description of L. famannellus at least as premature.

[cichla]

Rico, thank you for the constructive contribution. Well, I agree that the main (only) difference is the colour pattern. However, how you mentioned such character (or character state) has the same value to be diagnostic as it is assumed for morphological features.

The type locality of curviceps is most probably Manaus, Santarem or Belem. None of the endemic species of Amapá was imported in the 20ies. Hence, it is not likely that the type specimens of curviceps were collected in Amapá. There is a valid re-description of Laetacara curviceps available, so the identity of this taxon is clarified. How you mentioned, there is no curviceps known(yet) which possess the characteristic orange framed blotch in dorsal fin.

Every species description (creation of a new taxon) is a hypothesis. Such a hypothesis has to survive the struggle of scientific falsification. As long as there is no intermediate form known, L. famannellus is a valid species. Further, there are several endemic species known from Amapá. Thus, it is not impossible that there is a Laetacara which is distributed only in Amapá.
Greetings, IS

[cichla]

Römer et al. (2012: 205); ''Apistogramma allpa­huayo sp. n. is the only species of the genus in which functional sex change has been unequivocally re­corded ...“
Is it possible?

[Bas Pels]

It has been said the quite unrelated species Crenicara punctatum would have sex change as well.

Further, in the family Labroidea (sea fishes) this often happens. Still, the relations among families within Perciformes have recently been reviewed and I can't say whether these two families are still considered as closely related or not

[DRE]

Sorry but could someone help me with the word: unequivocally

[SergeS]

Sorry but could someone help me with the word: unequivocally

"Without a single doubt", something along those lines I would say.

[DRE]

Thanks, I googled a bit and came to the same conclusion.

[Rico Morgenstern]

The type locality of curviceps is most probably Manaus, Santarem or Belem. None of the endemic species of Amapá was imported in the 20ies. Hence, it is not likely that the type specimens of curviceps were collected in Amapá.

I agree, Ingo. At that time, aquarium fishes were usually imported by seamen who made an extra income from it. There was a regular steamship connection between Hamburg and Belém or Manaus, respectively. Thus, the type locality is most likely somewhere around either of these cities. However, such considerations should have been made by the authors in context with the description of the new species, not subsequently in this forum or elsewhere.

There is a valid re-description of Laetacara curviceps available, so the identity of this taxon is clarified.

As the redescription was published about three years before the description of L. flamannellus (BTW: Ingo we have both misspelled the name in our previous posts), the ID is only clarified with regard to the previously described species. Likewise, the material on which the redescription was based covers only part of the species' geographic range. The addition of the new species requires an extension of the diagnosis of L. curviceps and the considerations mentioned before.

Nevertheless I agree that the new species can be accepted as valid unless evidence is presented that the diagnostic trait(s) do(es) not actually serve to distinguish the taxon.

[Mike Wise]

Römer et al. (2012: 205); ''Apistogramma allpa­huayo sp. n. is the only species of the genus in which functional sex change has been unequivocally re­corded ...“
Is it possible?

Ingo Koslowski reported the same in A. sp. Wangenflecken in 1985. The only female in an aquarium spawned and raised young. Later this female changed sex and spawned with another female and produced viable offspring. I understand that there might be studies on sex change in A. agassizii underway.

[DRE]

interesting indeed. Any other genus among cichlids that is known to do this. Sorry for OT.

[cichla]

Thank you Bas and Mike. It seems thinkable that sex change in species of Apistogramma is possible. Still amazing and 'unbelievable'. Since Mike is mentioned Koslowski (1985) and the studies on sex change in A. agassizii it is clarified that Apistogramma allpa­huayo is not the only species.

Yes, I agree with you Rico. What I am missing in the Laetacara paper is: no explicit reason is given why the feature of an 'orange framed dorsal fin blotch' constitute the new species (e.g. biological meaning.... for example intersexual selection) and second no discussion on the biogeography is included (e.g. it is well known that the region of Amapa possess a rich endemic fauna). I guess we will get more information in the next paper(s).

[michi tobler]

It seems thinkable that sex change in species of Apistogramma is possible. Still amazing and 'unbelievable'.

It is sure possible. As others have mentioned before, many fish do it, and there is good evidence for at least one cichlid. However, to state "Apistogramma allpa­huayo sp. n. is the only species of the genus in which functional sex change has been unequivocally re­corded ...“ seems ludicrous. There is anecdotal evidence from a single specimen. No data presented, no replication. At best, I would have stated that "Pending further investigation, Apistogramma allpa­huayo sp. n. may be the only species of the genus with functional sex change". It's so easy to jump to conclusions. Here is a good example of what one has to do to establish something a little bit closer to unequivocally: http://www.sulfide-life.info/example.pdf. Quite a bit of work...
Cheers, m

[cichla]

Thank you, Michi, for the link. The paper is an interesting read.