Enteromius pinnimaculatus sp. nov. (Cypriniformes: Cyprinidae) from southern Gabon

Abstract

We present and describe a new species of Enteromius, adding to the 16 species of Enteromius currently recorded from Gabon, West Africa. This new species is distinguished from all other Gabonese Enteromius by the presence of several distinct spots on the dorsal fin in combination with three or four round spots on the flanks. In Africa, it is superficially similar to Enteromius walkeri and with which it shares an unusual allometry in that the proportional length of the barbels decreases as the fish grows. Nevertheless, one can distinguish these species by vertebral number, maximum standard length, the length of the anterior barbels, the length of the caudal peduncle and in most specimens, the number of lateral-line and circumpeduncular scales. These two species also inhabit widely separated drainages, with E. walkeri occurring in coastal drainages of Ghana including the Pra and Ankobra Rivers and the new species occurring in tributaries of the Louetsi and Bibaka Rivers of Gabon, which are part of the Ogowe and Nyanga drainages, respectively. Despite extensive collections in those drainages the new species is known from only two localities, suggesting the importance of conservation of its known habitat.

Evaluating the distribution of freshwater fish diversity using a multispecies habitat suitability model to assess impacts of proposed dam development in Gabon, Africa

“…Several new species of fish have been discovered during recent sampling expeditions in Gabon, including Paramormyrops ntotom (Rich, Sullivan, & Hopkins, 2017), Enteromius pinnimaculatus (Mipounga, Cutler, Mve Beh, Adams, & Sidlauskas, 2019), and the two known species in the recently described genus Cryptomyrus (Sullivan, Lavoué, & Hopkins, 2016). First, our model does not account for basin boundaries and thereby may overestimate species distributions, particularly for range-restricted species.…”

“…Finally, our model does not capture other critical aspects of biodiversity, such as the presence and/or absence of endangered, iconic, or undescribed species at proposed dam sites. Several new species of fish have been discovered during recent sampling expeditions in Gabon, including Paramormyrops ntotom (Rich, Sullivan, & Hopkins, 2017), Enteromius pinnimaculatus (Mipounga, Cutler, Mve Beh, Adams, & Sidlauskas, 2019), and the two known species in the recently described genus Cryptomyrus (Sullivan, Lavoué, & Hopkins, 2016). Much of Gabon's fish diversity remains undiscovered and undescribed, yet some of these species are threatened by proposed dam development, including the recently described E. pinnimaculatus, which is known to occur only at two localities, one of which is adjacent to a proposed dam site.…”

Review of the cichlid genus Thysochromis (Teleostei: Ovalentaria) with the description of a new species from the Kouilou Province in the Republic of Congo, west–Central Africa

“…The smatr package for (standardized) major axis estimation and testing routines (Warton et al ., ) was used in RStudio (http://www.rstudio.com) to calculate allometric coefficients for morphometric data (Mipounga et al ., ; Sidlauskas et al ., ). Allometric analyses were factorized using two groups to simultaneously test morphometric similarity between the upper Guinean type materials and dissimilarity between those and lower Guinean specimens.…”

Journal of Fish Biology special issue on The Biology and Ecology of African Freshwater Fishes

“…(2020) and Mipounga et al . (2020) employed detailed morphological analyses which support recognition and description of four new cichlid and one new cyprinid species. Walsh et al ., (2020) provide taxonomic resolution to the long‐standing question on the diversity and distribution of species in the genus Thysochromis from the upper and lower Guinean ichthyofaunal province.…”

“…Mipounga et al . (2020) described a distinctive cyprinid, Enteromius pinnimaculatus , which was only recorded from two localities in Gabon.…”