Synopsis of Callochromis Regan, 1920

Type species: Callochromis macrops (Boulenger, 1898)

Distinctive characters:

• Body more or less elongated, 2.7-3.3 times as long as high. The dorsal profile is convex and the ventral profile horizontal.
• Mouth small, final or sub terminal, hypogynous and almost horizontal.
• 3-5 series of conical teeth.
• Dorsal fin contains 12-16 hard-rays and 10-14 soft rays; anal fin contains 3 hard rays and 6-9 soft rays. The outer ray of the ventral fins are longest, the caudal with pointed lobes.
• 32-37 scales along the longitudinal line.
• Two lateral lines.
• Lower pharyngeal bone triangular with small bicuspid teeth, except at the back and center where the teeth are molar shaped.
• Total length 10-16 cm.

Species currently included:

Callochromis macrops (Boulenger, 1898)

Type locality:

Kinyamkolo and Mbity Rocks, Zambia.

Taxonomic history:

• Callochromis macrops (Boulenger, 1898) - by Poll 1986
• Callochromis macrops macrops (Boulenger, 1898) - by Greenwood 1983
• Callochromis macrops (Boulenger, 1898) – by Greenwood 1978
• Callochromis macrops macrops (Boulenger, 1898) - by Poll 1956
• Callochromis macrops (Boulenger, 1898) - by Regan 1920
• Pelmatochromis macrops (Boulenger, 1898) - by Pellegrin 1904
• Paratilapia macrops Boulenger, 1898

Synonyms:

• Pelmatochromis xenotilapiaformis Borodin, 1931
• Tylochromis macrophthalmus David, 1936

Link to Callochromis macrops in the CRC Catalogue.

Callochromis melanostigma (Boulenger, 1906)

Type locality:

Uvira, DR Congo (former Zaire)

Taxonomic history:

• Callochromis melanostigma (Boulenger, 1906) - by Poll 1986
• Callochromis macrops melanostigma (Boulenger, 1906) - by Poll 1956
• Callochromis melanostigma (Boulenger, 1906) – by Regan 1920
• Pelamatochromis melanostigma Boulenger, 1906

Synonyms:

• (?)Ectodus descampsii ornatipinnis Borodin, 1936 – Callochromis spp., possibly C. melanostigma.

Link to Callochromis melanostigma in the CRC Catalogue.

Callochromis pleurospilus (Boulenger, 1906)

Type locality:

Mpala, DR Congo (former Zaire).

Taxonomic history:

• Callochromis pleurospilus (Boulenger, 1906) - by Regan 1920
• Pelmatochromis pleurospilus Boulenger, 1906

Synonyms:

• Callochromis stappersii (Boulenger, 1914)
• Pelmatochromis stappersii Boulenger, 1914
• Callochromis rhodostigma (Boulenger, 1906)
• Pelmatochromis rhodostigma Boulenger, 1906

Link to Callochromis pleurospilus in the CRC Catalogue.

Remarks on taxonomic status:

The genus Callochromis has long been regarded as a phylogenetic entity and molecular analyses has confirmed that Callochromis is a monophyletic clade within the Ectodini tribe (Sturmbauer & Meyer 1993; Koblmüller et al. 2004).

The number of valid species within the genus has varied through time though; C. melanostigma has on more than one occasion been regarded as a subspecies of C. macrops and C. stappersii has on and off been regarded as a junior synonym of C. pleurospilus, latest by Takahashi & Nakaya in 1998. Molecular analyses have shown that C. stappersii may in fact be a valid taxa (Koblmüller et al. 2004) – a topic that will be addressed in a separate paper.