Geophagus Heckel

Hernan López-Fernández & Donald C. Taphorn, 2004, Geophagus abalios, G. dicrozoster and G. winemilleri (Perciformes: Cichlidae), three new species from Venezuela., Zootaxa 439, pp. 1-27 : 2-3

[[ Geophagus Heckel ]]

Gosse (1975) divided the South American genus Geophagus Heckel into several genera based on the number of supraneural bones. Biotodoma Eigenmann & Kennedy has 2 supraneurals, Gymnogeophagus de Miranda-Ribeiro has 0 and Geophagus has 1. Gosse’s definitions were later revised by Kullander (1986), who resurrected Satanoperca (Heckel) as distinct from Geophagus , and restricted the latter to include only species with paired caudal extensions of the swimbladder lined by 6-12 epihemal “ribs”, and more caudal than precaudal vertebrae (see also Kullander & Nijssen 1989; Kullander et al. 1992). Kullander ’s generic assignments have been corroborated by recent phylogenetic analyses of geophagine cichlids (Kullander 1998; Farias et al. 1999; 2000; 2001). As currently recognized, the genus Geophagus sensu stricto (Kullander 1986; Kullander & Nijssen 1989) includes eleven described species, and numerous others remain unnamed (e.g. Kullander 1986; Kullander et al. 1992; Kullander & Nijssen 1989; Weidner 2000).

Since Kullander (1986) and Kullander and Nijssen (1989), most populations of Geophagus referred to as G. surinamensis (Bloch) (Gosse 1975) have been recognized as different taxa. The Geophagus surinamensis “complex” includes 7 described species ( G. surinamensis , G. brokopondo Kullander and Nijssen , G. brachybranchus Kullander and Nijssen , G. camopiensis Pellegrin , G. proximus (Castelnau) , G. megasema Heckel and G. altifrons Heckel ) and an undetermined number of undescribed species with deep bodies and heads, a mid-flank spot of variable size, and either with infraorbital stripe absent (e.g. G. surinamensis ,) or limited to a preopercular black mark (e.g. G. brachybranchus ). Geophagus species outside the G. surinamensis complex have a complete infraorbital stripe, including G. grammepareius Kullander and Taphorn , G. taeniopareius Kullander and Royero , G. argyrostictus Kullander , G. harreri Gosse and probably several undescribed species known to the aquarium trade (Weidner 2000).

Originally described from Surinam (Kullander & Nijssen 1989), Geophagus brachybranchus was identified from the Cuyuní drainage by S. O. Kullander and DCT (Taphorn et al. 1997), and is the only described species of the G. surinamensis complex known to occur in Venezuela. Other populations of Geophagus in the country have traditionally been identified as G. surinamensis (e.g. Mago-Leccia 1970; Axelrod 1971; Machado-Allison 1987), which is restricted to the Surinam and Marowijne rivers in eastern Surinam (Kullander& Nijssen 1989), or G. altifrons (Royero et al. 1992; Machado-Allison et al. 1993), which has an Amazonian distribution (Kullander 1986). These populations actually represented three undescribed species: two were identified by S. O. Kullander and DCT (1996 unpubl.) and the third by HLF and DCT (2002 unpubl.) during recent surveys of collections at the Museo de Ciencias Naturales de Guanare. Specimens of these three species appear to have been known for some time in the German aquarium trade, and two of them were referred to as Geophagus ‘stripetail’ or G. ‘ Rio Negro I’ , and G. sp ‘Columbia’ , respectively (Weidner 2000). In this paper, we describe these three new species from the Orinoco and Casiquiare drainages of Venezuela; provide maps of their known distribution, and a key for the identification of the Venezuelan species of Geophagus .