Chiloglanis somereni Whitehead 1958

Schmidt, Ray C., Bart Jr, Henry L. & Nyingi, Wanja Dorothy, 2015, Two new species of African suckermouth catfishes, genus Chiloglanis (Siluriformes: Mochokidae), from Kenya with remarks on other taxa from the area, Zootaxa 4044 (1), pp. 45-64 : 60-61

Chiloglanis somereni Whitehead 1958

Chiloglanis somereni , described from the Nyanza Province, occurs in Kenyan rivers and streams that flow into Lake Victoria ( Fig. 1 ). The species is also found within the Lake Victoria affluents in Tanzania, the Malagarasi River, and may also occur within western Lake Victoria affluents ( Seegers 2008). This species was collected in large numbers in the Riani River (affluent to the Kuja River) in the swift flowing water over rocks and small boulders.

C. brevibarbis Tana R. (N=20) C. brevibarbis Athi R. (N=15) C. brevibarbis Tsavo R. (N=22) ….continued on the next page Chiloglanis somereni is allopatrically distributed and readily distinguished from other Kenyan suckermouth catfishes. It is a sexually dimorphic species, with males displaying elongated rays in the anal fin ( Fig. 7 ). This species has more mandibular teeth (10–12 in functional row) than all other Kenyan species except C. devosi and has longer pectoral and dorsal spines than C. devosi . It is one of the larger suckermouth catfishes found in Kenya with a maximum reported size of 68 mm SL. Whitehead (1958) provided a few comments on reproductive biology, but little else is known of the ecology and life history of C. somereni . Morphometric measurements and meristic counts of Kenyan C. somereni are found in Table 3.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Collection localities of Chiloglanis specimens included in this study and type localities of new species described herein: Chiloglanis deckenii (triangle), C. brevibarbis (circle), C. somereni (square), C. kerioensis (type locality—asterisk, paratypes—cross), and C. devosi (type locality—star). Drainage boundaries denoted by white lines.

FIGURE 7. Lateral and ventral views of Chiloglanis somereni, TU 203006, Kenya, Nyanza Province, Riana River, Konyango area at bridge along Homa Bay-Rongo Road. Scale bar equals 1 cm. Photographs by R. C. Schmidt.