Abstract
Specimens found between 1985 and 1988 in the Magé River Basin, south-eastern Brazil were misidentified as L. splendens. The recent rediscovery of other specimens in the Estrela River Basin near the type locality of L. splendens has clarified the species’ concept, making it possible to recognise the Magé River Basin specimens as a new species. The new species is herein described as Leptopanchax sanguineussp. nov. and is distinguished from all other cynopoecilines by a unique colour pattern in males, including red bars with sinuous margins. It was collected in a well-preserved, temporary shallow swampy area within dense moist forest, but since 1990 the species has not been found again. Leptopanchax sanguineussp. nov. is one of three species of cynopoeciline killifishes living in lowland moist forests of the coastal plains of Rio de Janeiro State, where the greatest diversity of endemic cynopoecilines is concentrated. Each of these species has been recorded a single time in the last 30 years, a surprisingly low record attributable to intense deforestation during the last several decades resulting in small fragmented lowland moist forests of today. This study indicates that seasonal killifishes adapted to uniquely live in this kind of habitat should be regarded with special concern in studies evaluating conservation priorities.
Highlights
The Atlantic Forest of south-eastern Brazil encompasses one of the most species-rich biota in the world, with a high diversity of plants and animals (Myers et al 2000)
Colouration characters were analysed and described based on photographs taken from a male collected in 1985 and notes taken from direct observation in aquaria of live specimens collected in 1985 and 1987; colouration characters were checked in photographs of live specimens born in aquaria, published in Costa (1995: fig. 113) and Seegers
Leptopanchax sanguineus shares with other congeners a golden distal stripe on the dorsal fin in males and vermiculate marks on the caudal fin in males (Fig. 2A). These apomorphic character states are present in all species placed by Costa (2016b) in Leptopanchax, including L. citrinipinnis, the type species of the genus (Fig. 2C–F), the golden stripe on the dorsal fin is not always well delimited and vermiculate marks on the caudal fin may acquire different shapes
Summary
The Atlantic Forest of south-eastern Brazil encompasses one of the most species-rich biota in the world, with a high diversity of plants and animals (Myers et al 2000). Different kinds of vegetation formations sheltering distinct seasonal killifish habitats are present in this region, including temporary pools in seasonally dry forests and coastal restingas, and seasonal swamps in dense moist forests (Costa 1995, 2009, 2016a). This region contains the greatest occurrence of cynopoeciline species threatened with extinction in South America, some of them critically endangered or presumably extinct (Costa 2002b, 2009, 2012), with most taxa poorly represented in ichthyological collections and not collected in recent years (Costa 2016a)
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