Thursday, July 30, 2015

A new fish: Bryconops munduruku

Today's new species belongs to the fish family Characidae. The characids or are a family of freshwater subtropical and tropical fish. Among those fishes are the tetras, comprising the very similar genera Hemigrammus and Hyphessobrycon, as well as a few related forms such as the cave and neon tetras. Fish of this family are important as food and also include popular aquarium fish species.

All these species live only in the Americas, most of them in Central and South America. Bryconops munduruku belongs to a genus that is restricted to freshwater drainages in South America. The species name is in reference to a tribe of Munduruku People, who settled on the right margin of the Tapajós River, giving rise to what today is the city of Aveiro, the type locality of the new species.

For the experts: A new species of Bryconops is described from a right tributary of the lower Tapajós River, State of Pará, Brazil. Bryconops munduruku, sp. nov., differs from its congeners, except B. inpai and B. piracolina, by having a black adipose fin (vs. adipose fin hyaline in alcohol) and, except B. inpai, by possessing two humeral blotches (vs. lack of humeral blotch or only one humeral blotch). Bryconops munduruku differs from B. inpai by having a uniform color pattern on the posterior portion of the side of the body (vs. a dark stripe extending posteriorly from the half of the anal-fin base onto the base of the middle caudal-fin rays). It differs further from B. inpai and B. piracolina by the presence of a black adipose fin that is hyaline along its base (vs. entirely black adipose fin in B. inpai and B. piracolina). The new species is allocated in the subgenus Creatochanes by having a maxillary bone with one to three teeth on both sides, and its posterior extension reaching the junction of second and third infraorbital bones.

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