Cichlid fishes from the La Plata basin. Part III. The Crenicichla lepidota species group (Teleostei: Cichlidae)

Abstract

Cichlid fishes from the La Plata basin. Part III. The Crenicichla lepidota species group (Teleostei: Cichlidae). -A taxonomic study of large-scaled Crenicichla from the Paraguay and Parana river drainages, shows the existence of two species: Crenicichla lepidota Heckel, in the Paraguay and Alto Parana systems, and C. britskii n. sp., in the Parana superior system. Three populations of C. lepidota are recognized, one in the Paraguay system, and two in the Alto Parana system, differing chiefly in meristics. An additional population of C. lepidota is found in tributaries of the Lagoa dos Patos in southern Brazil. Crenicichla lepidota, C. britskii, C. brasiliensis (Bloch) (northeast Brazil), and an undescribed species in the Säo Francisco drainage system, form the C. lepidota species group, probably close to C. saxatilis auctt. and similar forms in northern South America, but phenetically distinct from all other Crenicichla species.

Cytotaxonomy and karyoevolution of the genus Crenicichla (Perciformes, Cichlidae)

“…The pike cichlids of the genus Crenicichla Heckel, 1840 figure among the most speciesrich genera in the family and the genus includes about 80 species. Its geographical distribution comprises most of cis-Andean South America, from Trinidad to Argentina, including the Orinoco, Amazon, and Paraguay-Paraná basins and most coastal rivers between Guianas and the La Plata River (Kullander, 1982;Ploeg, 1991;Lucena and Kullander, 1992;Kullander, 1998Kullander, , 2003. Based on characteristics such as body shape, the number of scale series below lateral lines, and presence or absence of a humeral blotch, the Crenicichla species are included into nine groups (lugubris, acutirostris, lacustris, missioneira, reticulata, saxatilis, scotti, wallacii, and macrophtalma) or into two more inclusive groups: large-scaled and small-scaled species (Ploeg, 1991;Lucena and Kullander, 1992;Kullander and Lucena, 2006).…”

Phylogenetic relationships of species of Crenicichla (Teleostei: Cichlidae) from southern South America based on the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene

“…Kullander (1981, 1982, 1986, 1988, 1990a,b, 1991, 1997), Kullander and Lucena (2006), Lucena and Kullander (1992) and Ploeg (1991) recognized several major species groups within Crenicichla based on colour pattern, meristics, snout shape and other external morphological features, viz., the C. saxatilis , C. wallacii , Crenicichla lacustris , Crenicichla lugubris , and C. reticulata groups, as detailed below. In addition, Lucena and Kullander (1992) distinguished the C. missioneira and C. scottii groups as smaller potentially monophyletic units.…”

“…Most southern species of Crenicichla , including those of the Paraná River drainage, have been referred to a group called the C. lacustris group (Kullander 1982; Ploeg 1991), for which no diagnostic character has been proposed. There is no obvious distinguishing character for these species, except that they were mostly misidentified as C. lacustris in the past.…”

“…2). We propose here to call the group including C. vittata, C. scottii, C. punctata and C. iguassuensis , the ‘southern group’, instead of using a species name for a label, but in general it reflects the C. lacustris group of Kullander (1982) and Ploeg (1991), but with molecular support. The C. missioneira , group, which is recovered in both parsimony and Bayesian analyses, and discussed further below, might be included in a major group along with the southern group as indicated in the parsimony analysis (Fig.…”

Crenicichla chicha, a new species of pike cichlid (Teleostei: Cichlidae) from the rio Papagaio, upper rio Tapajós basin, Mato Grosso, Brazil

“…As it could be expected from a highly speciose genus, there is a relatively broad morphological variation among species of Crenicichla, a subject which has elicited a fair amount of discussion in the literature during the last 30 years (Kullander, 1981;1982, 1986, 1990a, b, 1991, 1997Ploeg, 1991;Lucena & Kullander, 1992;Kullander & Lucena, 2006). More recently, phylogenetic molecular analyses examining the relationships of sub-sets of Crenicichla, with emphasis on species from southeastern South America, have been published Piálek et al, 2010).…”