Metriaclima

Li, Shan, Konings, Adrianus F. & Stauffer, Jay R., 2016, A Revision of the Pseudotropheus elongatus species group (Teleostei: Cichlidae) With Description of a New Genus and Seven New Species, Zootaxa 4168 (2), pp. 353-381 : 354

Metriaclima

(type species Metriaclima zebra, Boulenger )

Metriaclima is diagnosed by the following morphological characteristics ( Stauffer et al. 1997; Konings & Stauffer 2006): 1) the presence of bicuspid teeth in the anterior portion of the outer row on both the upper and lower jaws; 2) a moderately-sloped (31–48° to the parasphenoid) ethmo-vomerine block with a swollen rostral tip; 3) the cleft of the upper and lower jaws forms a 23–40° angle with the body axis; 4) the lower jaw is often slightly longer and thicker than the upper jaw; 5) a large part of the upper dental arcade is normally exposed when the mouth is closed; 6) the tips of the teeth in the premaxilla and dentary are in a V-shaped line with the anterior-most in upper and lower jaw furthest apart; and 7) the placement of the bicuspid teeth in the outer row along the side of the jaws does not follow the contour of the jaw, while the lateral teeth are rotated so that the plane of their two-pronged tips runs parallel with those in the anterior part of the jaw.

We propose that two of the undescribed elongate species, Pseudotropheus elongatus ‘yellow tail’ and Pseudotropheus elongatus ‘Mara’ that Ribbink et al. (1983) had placed in their P. elongatus species-group should be placed in Metriaclima . Although they possess elongate bodies, their feeding mechanism, terminal mouth, and ranges of vomer angles all place these two species in Metriaclima .