A new species of Cetopsis from the Guiana Shield (Siluriformes: Cetopsidae: Cetopsinae).

Abstract

A new species of Cetopsis is described from Guiana Shield drainages in Guyana and Suriname. The new species is found in the Konawaruk River and tributaries, Essequibo River basin, Guyana, and in the Mauritie Creek, tributary to the Tempati River, upper Commewijne River basin, Suriname. The new taxon can be distinguished from all congeners by a combination of features: dark spots on sides of the body eye-sized or larger, dark, bilobed patch at the base of the caudal fin, absence of a dark humeral spot, absence of dark pigmentation along the fin-membrane posterior to the first dorsal-fin ray, dark pigmentation at the base of the dorsal fin, dark spots extending ventrally to the bases of anal-fin rays, and 41 total vertebrae with 28 caudal vertebrae. Data on internal anatomy of the new species were incorporated into a previously-published phylogenetic analysis and resolves the position of the new species as the sister group of C. motatanensis, from Lago Maracaibo basin. The new Cetopsis is the first species of the genus known to occur exclusively in the Guiana Shield.