Bedotia Regan, 1903

John S. Sparks & Leila M. R. Rush, 2005, A new rainbowfish (Teleostei: Melanotaenioidei: Bedotiidae) from the southeastern highlands of Madagascar, with comments on the biogeography of Bedotia., Zootaxa 1051, pp. 39-54 : 39-41

publication ID

z01051p039

publication LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:pub:E72DC3E8-9DE3-4F41-B34A-15FEB1AF6726

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6265108

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/F0702BE6-4D3B-AED3-5EEE-F1BC65002244

treatment provided by

Thomas

scientific name

Bedotia Regan
status

 

[[ Genus Bedotia Regan View in CoL View at ENA   ZBK ]]

Introduction

The melanotaenioid family Bedotiidae is endemic to Madagascar and comprises two genera, Bedotia   ZBK and Rheocles   ZBK . As their common name, Malagasy rainbows or rainbowfishes, implies, bedotiids generally are colorful fishes. Bedotiids are elongate, laterally compressed, and rarely exceed 100.0 mm SL. Most bedotiids exhibit varying degrees of sexual dimorphism, which is quite pronounced in some species. Bedotiids occur exclusively in freshwater environments and are distributed in small to medium-sized forested rivers and streams, occasionally in swamps and marshes, spanning nearly the entire eastern versant of Madagascar. All species of Bedotia   ZBK and Rheocles   ZBK are restricted to eastern drainages, less R. derhami   ZBK , which is endemic to a tributary of the westward draining Sofia River located in the northeast of the island.

In a species-level phylogenetic hypothesis for Bedotiidae based on an analysis of nucleotide characters from a combination of mitochondrial and nuclear genes, Sparks and Smith (2004a) demonstrated that Bedotiidae and Bedotia   ZBK are monophyletic, but that Rheocles   ZBK is paraphyletic (Fig. 1). A comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of Bedotia   ZBK has yet to be undertaken via the use of anatomical features; nevertheless, monophyly of the genus has been hypothesized in a number of recent comparative morphological studies (Stiassny 1990; Dyer & Chernoff 1996; Aarn & Ivantsoff 1997). Morphologically, Bedotia   ZBK is characterized by the presence of a deep notch, the "Bedotia notch", on the dentigerous margin of the premaxilla (Stiassny 1990: fig. 16a).

Bedotia Regan 1903   ZBK comprises six nominal species ( B. madagascariensis Regan 1903   ZBK , B. geayi Pellegrin 1907   ZBK , B. longianalis Pellegrin 1914   ZBK , B. tricolor Pellegrin 1932   ZBK , B. marojejy Stiassny & Harrison 2000   ZBK , and B. masoala Sparks 2001   ZBK ). Apart from coloration, pigmentation pattern, and minor variations in body shape, Bedotia   ZBK is a morphologically conservative group of fishes. Until recently, the genus was poorly represented in museum collections, which has precluded detailed phylogenetic studies of their intrarelationships. Fortunately, much additional material has been collected from throughout eastern Madagascar over the past 15 years (Loiselle & Stiassny 2003; Sparks & Stiassny 2003). An examination of these collections, which comprise several newly discovered populations from remote regions of the island, reveals several presumably new species that are distinguishable in terms of pigmentation pattern, coloration, and body shape (Sparks & Stiassny 2003).

Sparks and Smith (2004a) included all nominal species of Bedotia   ZBK in their molecular phylogenetic study of rainbowfishes, as well as representatives from these recently discovered populations (Fig. 1). Within this phylogenetic framework for Bedotia   ZBK , and based on morphological comparisons to all nominal and undescribed species of the genus, including the type series for all species, a new species of Bedotia   ZBK from the southeastern highlands of Madagascar is described. A brief discussion on the biogeography of Bedotia   ZBK is also presented.

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