New Central African killifish described as Aphyosemion pamaense. Image: © Rudolf Pohlmann, courtesy www.chromaphyosemion.be | Creative Commons

A strikingly handsome new species of killifish from the Pama River, a small tributary of the Nyong River flowing into the Gulf of Guinea in Central Africa’s Republic of Cameroon has been described by a team of European researchers.

The authors, from France’s Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution, Université Montpellier, describe the fish’s distinctive orange and blue-grey pigmentation and report that DNA testing has found that the new species is “genetically differentiated from all the other Chromaphyosemion species.” The official description appears in the journal ZOOTAXA, 3670 (4): 516-530.

The fish was first collected in 2007 Jean-Francois Agnese followed by additional field research in 2008 and 2010.

Information on the subgenus Chromaphyosemion, native to ponds and small rivers in West Africa, can be found on the All About Chromaphyosemion web site.

ARTICLE
Published 14 June 2013, ZOOTAXA

Aphyosemion pamaense, a new killifish species (Cyprinodontiformes: Nothobranchiidae) from Cameroon
JEAN-FRANCOIS AGNESE, OLIVIER LEGROS, BENOITE CAZAUX, GUILLAIN ESTIVALS
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.11646%2Fzootaxa.3670.4.6

Abstract

Aphyosemion pamaense sp. nov. is described from the Pama River, a small tributary of the Nyong, in the surroundings of Pama, Cameroon. It belongs to the subgenus Chromaphyosemion Radda, 1971 and is distinguished from its relatives by a unique/diagnostic combination of characters: orange unpaired fins, an anal fin without spots, an orange throat and purple to blue-grey flanks. The new species is also genetically differentiated from all the other Chromaphyosemion species as revealed by mtDNA (cytochrome b) analysis and characterised by a unique karyotype showing tentative sex chromosomes with 2n=35 chromosomes in males versus 2n=36 in females.

 Further Information

All About Chromaphyosemion an evolving website for “killiphiles” published in French, but with translation available via Google Translate. Copyright © 1998-2013 – Olivier Legros.