Systematic assessment of the Leporinus desmotes species complex, with a description of two new species

Abstract

Members of the Leporinus desmotes species complex can be distinguished from other barred or banded congeners by the combination of nine distinct black bars across the head and trunk and long, pointed, laterally compressed and upward curving symphyseal dentary teeth. A taxonomic reassessment of this complex revealed two new species, one from the Orinoco and Negro rivers of Venezuela and Brazil, and the other from the Xingu and Tapajós rivers of Brazil. Both species are similar to L. desmotes and L. jatuncochi, but differ significantly in body shape morphology, coloration, and/or circumpeduncular scale counts. Genetic evidence also contributes to the recognition of both new species. This contribution also maps the geographic distribution of the four known species, and highlights the presence of an unusual meristic polymorphism within Leporinus desmotes sensu stricto that may suggest the presence of even more unrecognized diversity.Keywords: Anostomidae, Characiformes, Morphology, South America, Taxonomy.As espécies do complexo Leporinus desmotes diferem da maioria dos congêneres com base nas nove barras transversais escuras ao redor da cabeça e do corpo, e do dente sinfisiano do dentário alongado, comprimido lateralmente e ligeiramente curvado para cima. Uma revisão taxonômica desse complexo revelou a existência de duas espécies novas, uma dos rios Orinoco e Negro na Venezuela e Brasil, e outra das drenagens dos rios Xingu e Tapajós, no Brasil. As duas espécies novas são similares à L. desmotes e L. jatuncochi, das quais diferem significativamente por uma combinação de forma do corpo, coloração e número de séries de escamas ao redor do pedúnculo caudal. Dados genéticos também corroboram o reconhecimento das duas espécies novas. Esta contribuição ainda traz novos dados sobre a distribuição geográfica de cada uma das espécies do complexo, e discute a presença de um incomum polimorfismo no número de escamas ao redor do pedúnculo caudal em Leporinus desmotes stricto sensu, que sugere a presença de uma diversidade ainda maior de espécies não descritas.

Phylogeography of Hypomasticus copelandii (Teleostei, Anostomidae) Reveals Distinct Genetic Lineages along Atlantic Coastal Drainages of Eastern Brazil

“…This is also supported by extreme phenotypic plasticity that may have potentialized family speciation processes [81]. Indeed, molecular investigations have found several independent lineages inside Megaleporinus conirostris, M. macrocephalus, M. obtusidens, M. piavussu, M. trifasciatus [38], Laemolyta taeniata [33], Schizodon nasutus, S. vittatus [82], and within the Leporinus desmotes and L. friderici complexes [34,83]. Another independent lineage is H. pachycheilus from southern tributaries of the Amazon, obtained as closer to other species of Leporinus [22,38,45] in need of further investigation.…”

Checklist of the fishes from Jamari River basin, in areas under influence of dams, Rondônia, Brazil

“…Other species were identified in Queiroz et al (2013a) with a different name: Leporinus desmotes = L. jatuncochi (see Burns et al 2017), L. cylindriformes = L. niceforoi (this paper), Moenkhausia sp. "virgulata" = Astyanax guaporensis (see Marinho & Ohara 2013), Moenkhausia sp.…”

Fishes of the Cusiana River (Meta River basin, Colombia), with an identification key to its species

“…The documentation of the ichthyofauna in cis-Andean Colombian sub-basins has been increasing during the last decade, but new records and species can likely still be found in areas previously thought to be well-sampled (e.g., Ballen 2011, Vanegas-Ríos et al 2015, Ballen et al 2016a, 2016b, Burns et al 2017, García-Alzate et al 2017). Most of the sampling effort has been carried out in the piedmont and lowland areas in the Cusiana as well as in other sub-basins, and exploration of High Andean areas could lead to the discovery of local endemic species at the basin scale that usually are underestimated (Carvajal-Quintero et al 2015).…”