Astyanax xavante, a new species of characid from middle rio Araguaia in the Cerrado region, Central Brazil (Characiformes: Characidae)

Valdener Garutti,Paulo Cesar Venere

doi:10.1590/s1679-62252009000300004

Valdener Garutti, Paulo Cesar Venere

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/s1679-62252009000300004

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Abstract

Astyanax xavante is described from a creek of the middle rio Araguaia drainage located in the Cerrado region of the Brazilian Central Plateau. The new species is distinguished from congeners by the combination of pigmentation, morphometric, meristic, morphologic, and tooth features. Ecological notes for A. xavante are included.

Highlights

Our current understanding of the genus Astyanax is unsatisfactory
Two other Astyanax species were described from the Araguaia-Tocantins and adjacent drainages: A. asuncionensis Géry, 1972 (= A. bimaculatus paraguayensis Eigenmann, 1921), from the Araguaia and Paraguay basins, and A. novae Eigenmann from Sono (Tocantins drainage) and Sapão rivers
Astyanax xavante has the larger body depth in about two to three scales ahead of dorsal-fin origin, snout short but not abruptly tapered, and head not massive. These features are enough to distinguish it from species of the A. scabripinnis complex sensu Bertaco & Lucena (2006), overlapping of other characteristics does occur with species of this complex

Summary

Introduction

Our current understanding of the genus Astyanax is unsatisfactory. The last complete Astyanax revision was conducted by Eigenmann (1921, 1927), and the most recent author to treat the genus as a whole is Géry (1977), who essentially followed Eigenmann. Four species have their type localities distant from the Araguaia-Tocantins basin, which raises doubts about the correct identification and, the occurrence of these species in this basin All these species are considered a species complex (Garutti & Britski, 1997; Bertaco & Lucena, 2006; Melo & Buckup, 2006). A new species of characid from middle rio Araguaia in the Cerrado region, Central Brazil correspond to A. fasciatus (Cuvier) [vs a faint vertical humeral spot (Eigenmann, 1921)]. These references suggest that they may have been incorrect identifications. A new species of Astyanax is described, which shares some features with species of the Astyanax scabripinnis complex (Bertaco & Lucena, 2006) but does not meet all the requirements for its inclusion in this complex

Material and Methods

Discussion

Findings

Literature Cited