Revision of the African cichlid fish genus Ctenochromis (Teleostei, Cichliformes), including a description of the new genus Shuja from Lake Tanganyika and the new species Ctenochromis scatebra from northern Tanzania
Author
Genner, Martin J.
51EC6157-05BE-41A3-AD99-28107E6F8B5B
School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Life Sciences Building, 24 Tyndall Avenue, Bristol, BS 8 1 TQ, United Kingdom.
m.genner@bristol.ac.uk
Author
Hsu, Ling-Lan
950E8249-364F-4719-97A7-20625A0CE82C
School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Life Sciences Building, 24 Tyndall Avenue, Bristol, BS 8 1 TQ, United Kingdom.
linglan.k.hsu@gmail.com
Author
Collins, Rupert A.
25B50E29-A643-46DF-BD95-1B28DD17D550
School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Life Sciences Building, 24 Tyndall Avenue, Bristol, BS 8 1 TQ, United Kingdom.
rupertcollins@gmail.com
Author
Smith, Alan M.
55C2640F-E75D-4053-8649-E5ED00E8C170
Department of Biological and Marine Sciences, University of Hull, Hull, HU 5 7 RX, United Kingdom.
a.smith@hull.ac.uk
Author
Saxon, Andrew D.
65B20206-1EA0-4768-965F-F45D36571E4C
School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Life Sciences Building, 24 Tyndall Avenue, Bristol, BS 8 1 TQ, United Kingdom.
andy.saxon@bristol.ac.uk
Author
Shechonge, Asilatu H.
54B30AB7-E628-4A71-BDE8-8353C2E0E07F
Tanzania Fisheries Research Institute (TAFIRI) P. O. Box 9750, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
ashechonge@yahoo.com
Author
Ngatunga, Benjamin P.
AEDC8D10-A40D-4C37-910D-8F564BA6E43E
Tanzania Fisheries Research Institute (TAFIRI) P. O. Box 9750, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
bpngatunga@yahoo.co.uk
Author
Turner, George F.
EEE277DC-D33D-4F24-8830-FF07DD514F9E
School of Biological Sciences, Bangor University, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL 57 2 UW, United Kingdom.
george.turner@bangor.ac.uk
text
European Journal of Taxonomy
2022
2022-05-11
819
23
54
http://zoobank.org/8415bf78-8949-45aa-9436-3ba3f0caeb2b
journal article
55522
10.5852/ejt.2022.819.1775
02a5d778-d054-4731-b306-6906c0f9a425
2118-9773
6544372
8415BF78-8949-45AA-9436-3BA3F0CAEB2B
Genus
Ctenochromis
Pfeffer, 1893
Type
species
Ctenochromis pectoralis
Pfeffer, 1893
(by original designation).
Diagnosis
Ctenochromis
is a haplochromine cichlid genus restricted to species with the combination of four key characters, following
Greenwood (1979)
: 1) “The abrupt size transition between the very small chest scales and the larger scales on the ventrolateral aspects of the anterior flanks”, 2) “a naked area on either side of the chest”, 3) “a failure of cheek squamation to reach the ventral margin of the cheek”, and 4) “anal fin markings of male fishes are in the form of one or two (rarely three) non-ocellate spots”.
Remarks
As noted by
Greenwood (1979: 288)
, non-ocellate spots are “without a dark margin or clear surround”. In
Greenwood (1979)
the significance of the non-ocellate male egg spots in the diagnosis of
Ctenochromis
is unclear, hence a rediagnosis has been provided here. Using the four diagnostic characters for
Ctenochromis
listed above, the genus currently includes only
C. pectoralis
and
Ctenochromis scatebra
sp. nov.
described herein.
Of
Greenwood’s (1979)
five species of
Ctenochromis
, namely
C. pectoralis
,
C. horei
,
C. luluae
,
C. oligacanthus
and
C. polli
, Greenwood
notes that three species have non-ocellate egg spots but did not specifically mention which species, although it is likely that Greenwood considered his
C. polli
to have this trait, given the mention of a colour photograph of the species in
Voss (1977: 74)
. Based on photographs of field collected specimens, or specimens kept in aquaria, we are aware of only one of Greenwood’s five species that unquestionably possesses non-ocellate egg spots, namely the
type
species
C. pectoralis
(
Fig. 6
). Aquarium specimens of Greenwood’s
C. horei
(herein
Shuja horei
gen. et comb. nov.
) are clearly in possession of ocellate egg spots (see
Konings 2015
). In contrast to Greenwood, we consider
Voss (1977: 74)
to show a specimen of Greenwood’s
C. polli
with an ocellate spot, as does a photograph in
Lamboj (2004: 212)
. There is a photograph of a specimen of
C. luluae
in
Lamboj (2004: 211)
with ocellate eggspots. We are unaware of any unambiguous evidence of the precise egg spot characteristics of Greenwood’s
C. oligacanthus
. Hence, we follow
Daget
et al.
(1991)
and
Fricke
et al.
(2021)
in assigning Greenwood’s
C. polli
,
C. luluae
and
C. oligacanthus
to the catchall genus
Haplochromis
, as
Haplochromis polli
,
Haplochromis luluae
and
Haplochromis oligacanthus
, respectively. These three taxa will require a comprehensive taxonomic evaluation. In addition, the specimens we observed of
Shura horei
gen. et comb. nov.
do not possess the “naked area on either side of the chest” characteristic of
Ctenochromis
, but instead have a single scaleless area at the anterior of
the chest. This single scaleless area at the anterior of the chest is also shared with the phylogenetically proximate
Gnathochromis pfefferi
.