Three new species of the ‘ Geophagus’ brasiliensis species group from the northeast Brazil (Cichlidae, Geophagini)

Abstract

Morphological characters and phylogenetic trees generated by analyses of segments of two mitochondrial genes cytochrome b and cytochrome c oxidase I support recognition of three new species of the 'Geophagus' brasiliensis species group from coastal basins of northeast Brazil. All new species were diagnosed by exclusive morphological characters and exclusive nucleotide transformations. Geophagus rufomarginatus sp. n., from the Rio Buranhém Basin, is distinguished from all other species of the group by dorsal-fin lappets with red edges, the presence of longitudinal series of small light blue spots between the anal-fin spines and rays, and non-denticulated gill-rakers; it is closely related to G. brasiliensis and G. iporangensis. Geophagus multiocellus sp. n., from the Rio de Contas Basin, is distinguished from all other species of the group by having small pale blue spots with minute bright blue dots at their centres, that are often vertically coalesced to form short bars on the caudal fin. Geophagus santosi sp. n., from the Rio Mariana Basin, is distinguished from all other species of the group by having blue stripes parallel to the dorsal and anal fin rays on their longest portions. Geophagus multiocellus and G. santosi belong to the same clade of G. itapicuruensis. The clade composed by the Rio Paraguaçu Basin species was recovered as the sister group of the other species of the 'G.' brasiliensis species group.

A new species of Hyphessobrycon Durbin from northeastern Brazil: evidence from morphological data and DNA barcoding (Characiformes, Characidae)

“…The most widespread molecular method used in taxonomy has been the DNA barcoding, which consists on the use of a single gene from mitochondrial DNA (cytochrome oxidase subunit I – COI) as a proxy for species differentiation (Hebert et al 2003). In fact, several studies have been carried out using molecular markers and new species have been delimited and/or described, in most cases, based both on molecular and morphological evidence (e.g., Costa and Amorim 2011, Costa et al 2012, Roxo et al 2012, Villa-Verde et al 2012, Castro-Paz et al 2014, Costa et al 2014, Benzaquem et al 2015, Mattos et al 2015, Costa et al 2017). …”

Fishes from the rio da Dona, a threatened environment in the Recôncavo Sul basin, Bahia, Brazil

“…Geophagus gr. brasiliensis fits in the G. brasiliensis species group, which currently includes eight species according to Mattos & Costa (2018), being six of them known from NMAF ecoregion. Geophagus obscurus (Castelnau 1855) and G. itapicuruensis Haseman 1911 were the first two species of the genus described from this region.…”

“…brasiliensis due to the character overlap with the aforementioned species, for example, the number of branched rays of all fins. In addition, some of these species were described by Mattos & Costa (2018) using mainly color pattern in life and molecular data, which makes it difficult to perform morphological comparisons based on the literature.…”

Freshwater fishes of the Bahia State, Northeastern Brazil

“…in taxonomic inventories (e.g., Sarmento-Soares et al 2009a, Cetra et al 2010, Burger et al 2011, Ramos et al 2014. Although numerous freshwater fish species from the Bahia river basins have been described in the last two decades (e.g., Bertaco & Lucena 2006, Ribeiro & Lucena 2006, Lima & Britski 2007, Benine et al 2007, Zanata & Camelier 2008, 2010, 2015, Bichuette et al 2008, Sarmento-Soares et al 2009b, Sarmento-Soares et al 2011, Ferreira et al 2014, Vari et al 2010, Bichuette & Rizzato 2012, Oliveira et al 2013, Sarmento-Soares & Martins-Pinheiro 2013, Camelier & Zanata 2014b, 2017, 2018, Mattos et al 2015, Peixoto & Wosiacki 2016, Zanata & Pitanga 2016, Zawadzki et al, 2017Barreto et al 2018, Mattos & Costa, 2018, Burger et al 2019, Lucena & Lucena 2019, ichthyological explorations continue to reveal unknown species, especially in small tributaries and in upper drainage areas. The increase in the number of species recently described from the São Francisco river basin has already been documented in the literature (see Alves et al 2011 andBarbosa et al 2017).…”