Pedro Fasura de Amorim

Federal University of Rio de Janeiro | UFRJ · Departamento de Genética

We describe a new species of the genus Atlantirivulus from a small first-order stream on the right margin of the Paraná River basin in the Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. The region of occurrence of the new species is known to be a hotspot for Melanorivulus species. This area, however, is approximately 700 km away from the record of occurrence of its c...

Siluriformes are considered as primarily freshwater and have frequently been a model for the study of historical biogeography. Among catfishes, the most diverse clade is the Loricarioidei, a Neotropical group for which the fossil record extends back to the Palaeocene of Argentina. Here we describe a fossil from the early Late Cretaceous of Morocco,...

Abstract: The Cambeva variegata group (CVG) is endemic to a region situated in the intersection of two endangered biodiversity hotspots, Cerrado and Atlantic Forest, and drained by two important South American river basins, the upper Rio Paraná and upper Rio São Francisco basins. Presently, CVG comprises two nominal species, besides some still unde...

The presence of paired appendages supported by endoskeleton elements is primarily shared by all gnathostomes, but secondarily lost in different lineages. Absence of pelvic fin and girdle is a condition relatively rare among trichomycterine catfishes, but a recent morphological study suggest that pelvic loss have occurred independently within the ge...

Colouration is an important tool for systematists inferring species limits and phylogenetic relationships of teleost fishes, but the use of colouration variation in trichomycterine catfish systematics has generated some controversy. We first report and describe the occurrence of four, geographically disjunct colour morphs in Trichomycterus albinota...

Psammocambeva, a subgenus of Trichomycterus s.s., includes a clade endemic to south-eastern Brazil, the Psammocambeva alpha-clade (PAC), containing species with similar colour pattern and fin morphology, making difficult their identification without accurate examination. The greatest diversity of PAC species occurs in the Rio Paraíba do Sul basin a...

Catfishes of the genus Trichomycterus comprise the most diverse fish group in mountain river basins crossing the Atlantic Forest of southeastern Brazil, with a great concentration of species in the Rio Paraíba do Sul basin. The present study is directed to the T. nigroauratus group, endemic to the Rio Paraíba do Sul basin, comprising species common...

Anablepsoides is a widely distributed Neotropical killifish genus found in shallow streams, in both dense forests and open areas, throughout northern and northeastern South America. The phylogenetic and biogeographic relationships of the genus are here analysed, based on two nuclear and four mitochondrial genes of 26 species and six out‐groups. The...

The Kryptolebias marmoratus species group is composed of the only three vertebrate species that lack females. These species present only males and simultaneously hermaphroditic individuals; that are able to reproduce by allogamy, with males, or by autogamy, performing self-fertilization and generating clones of themselves. The proportion of males i...

The origin of melanism has been often associated with cryptic habits, driven by selection for camouflage, sometimes independently arising in closely related species. Field studies in Atlantic Forest rivers of south-eastern Brazil have indicated the occurrence of three melanic species in the catfish genus Trichomycterus: T. immaculatus, T. nigricans...

This study is primarily directed to the most poorly known species of the genus Trichomycterus, comprising five nominal species (T. florensis, T. immaculatus, T. nigricans, T. paquequerensis and T. santaeritae) endemic to southeastern Brazil. One of them, T. nigricans, is the type species of the genus, involved in taxonomic problems for over 150 yea...

A recent collection of the seasonal killifish found Leptopanchax splendens c. 5 km from the type locality, 74 years after its last record. The species was historically common in its type locality, the Estrela River basin in south‐eastern Brazil, until 1950, after which it was not encountered and thought to have become extinct due to widespread defo...

The current distribution of the Neotropical ichthyofauna has been widely affected by the main geological events that occurred in South and Central America. However, robust biogeographic information is still scarce or absent for most fish families. The biogeographic relationships of the most diverse anablepid genus, Jenynsia, are herein analysed, us...

A high concentration of endemic species of seasonal killifishes has been recorded for a small area encompassing the highland plateaus associated with the upper section of the Carnaúba de Dentro River drainage and adjacent drainages of the middle section of the São Francisco River basin, northeastern Brazil. The present study is primarily directed t...

A great diversity of animal species adapted to life in the semi-arid Caatinga of northeastern Brazil, including seasonal killifishes, has been reported in the last three decades. More recently, field and molecular data have shown a high occurrence of cryptic species. The killifish group herein analysed, the Hypsolebiasmagnificus species complex, is...

The miniature seasonal killifish Spectrolebiascostae , first described for the middle Araguaia River basin, has been also recorded from two areas in the middle Tocantins River basin, from where male specimens exhibit some differences in their colour pattern. Analyses directed to species delineation (GMYC and bPTP), using a fragment of the mitochond...

The high diversity of Neotropical fishes has been attributed to major South American palaeogeographic events, such as Andean uplift, rise of the Isthmus of Panama and marine transgressions. However, the unavailability of temporal information about evolution and diversification of some fish groups prevents the establishment of robust hypotheses abou...

List of analysed species with respective GenBank accession numbers for each analysed gene. Bold accession numbers are sequences first used in this study. (DOC)

List of primers for each gene. (DOC)

Best evolutive model for each partition found by PartitionFinder. (DOC)

The Jenynsia lineata species complex comprises J. lineata from Montevideo, Uruguay and Jenynsia multidentata, from coastal basins of Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina up to 1200 m a.s.l. Taxonomic divisions within this group were tested using three different species delimitation methods, which found the two existing names to be synonyms and revealed a...

The Caatinga is the largest nucleus of seasonally dry tropical forests in South America, but little is known about the evolutionary history and biogeography of endemic organisms. Evolutionary diversification and distribution of terrestrial vertebrates endemic to the Caatinga have been explained by palaeogeographical Neogene episodes, mostly related...

Primers used in the analyses. (DOCX)

Maximum Likelihood trees. (TIF)

List of taxa, GenBank accession numbers and coordinates of collecting sites. (DOC)

Best-fitting models of molecular evolution. (DOCX)

Pantanodon, containing two African extant species and four European fossil species, for a long time had an uncertain position among the Cyprinodontiformes due to its peculiar morphology. In the last decades, Pantanodon has been considered closely related to African lamp-eyes of the Procatopodinae clade, which is contained in the Poeciliidae, a tele...

Morphological characters and phylogenetic trees generated by analyses of a segment of the mitochondrial gene cytochrome b support two new species from the Lagoa dos Patos basin, in southern Brazil. The phylogenetic analyses indicate that the two new species are each other’s respective closest relatives among species of A. adloffi group. The clade c...

The rich biological diversity of South America has motivated a series of studies associating evolution of endemic taxa with the dramatic geologic and climatic changes that occurred during the Cainozoic. The organism here studied is the killifish tribe Cynolebiini, a group of seasonal fishes uniquely inhabiting temporary pools formed during the rain...

This study comprises the first molecular phylogeny of Melanorivulus, a genus of small killifishes inhabiting shallow streams draining South American savannas, using segments of the mitochondrial genes 16S and ND2 and the intron 1 of the nuclear S7 gene, total of 2,138 bp, for 26 taxa. Monophyly of the genus is highly supported and some clades previ...

Background: The Cynopoecilus melanotaenia complex is a morphologically homogeneous killifish group, endemic from an area encompassing southern Brazil and northeastern Uruguay. It presently comprises four valid species: C. melanotaenia, the type species of the genus, and C. fulgens, C. intimus, and C. nigrovittatus. New information: Cynopoecilus...

Internal fertilization is a widespread mode of reproduction in chondrichthyans and tetrapods, but uncommon in actinopterygian fishes. In killifishes of the suborder Aplocheiloidei, internal fertilization is restricted to two genera, Campellolebias and Cynopoecilus, both containing species adapted to life in seasonal pools of subtropical South Ameri...

This study is focused on a poorly known genus of small killifishes, Xenurolebias, comprising species uniquely living in temporary pools of the Atlantic Forest in the coastal plains of eastern Brazil (a region undergoing intense deforestation). Xenurolebias comprises two nominal, morphologically similar species, but some variability among population...

Melanorivulus rubroreticulatus, new species, is described on the basis of material collected in the lower section of the Xingu river drainage, Brazilian Amazon. It is a member of a group endemic to the region encompassing the southern Amazonas river tributaries and the Pamaiba river basin. The new species is distinguished from other congeners of th...

Nematolebias, a genus of killifishes uniquely living in temporary pools of south-eastern Brazil, contains two nominal species, N. whitei, a popular aquarium fish, and N. papilliferus, both threatened with extinction and presently distinguishable by male colour patterns. Species limits previously established on the basis of morphological characters...

Two new species of the Anablepsoides urophthalmus group and three new species of the A. ornatus group, collected in the Brazilian Amazon, are described. Anablepsoides jari, new species, and A. roraima, new species, are the first records of members of the A. urophthalmus group for tributaries of the Amazonas river basin draining the Guiana Shield, b...

Members of the Hypsolebias antenori species group comprise a diverse clade of morphologically similar seasonal killifishes occurring in a vast region of the semi-arid savannah of northeastern Brazil. The present paper focuses on an assemblage of three allopatric cryptic species (H. antenori from isolated coastal river drainages, Hypsolebias igneus...

Notholebias, a genus of seasonal miniature killifishes from south-eastern Brazil, contains two species threatened with extinction, N. minimus and N. fractifasciatus, and one possibly extinct species N. cruzi. These species are mainly distinguishable by male colour patterns. Species limits were tested using a combination of morphological characters...

Laetacara flamannellus sp. n. is described from the northern Brazilian coastal floodplains. It differs from all its congeners by a combination of character states: presence of a dark brown or black spot located on dorsal-fin base; presence of a yellow stripe on the middle portion of the dorsal fin, crossing the whole fin; presence of an orange ring...

Melanorivulus schuncki is first recorded for a vast geographic area of the eastern Brazilian Amazon between Rego Grande River, Amapá state, and the lower Amazonas River basin, Pará state. It was found in shallow parts of clear and black water streams, as well as in broad flooded areas, both in the edge of the forest and in open savannah. Some varia...

The organisms investigated are members of the Hypsolebias flavicaudatus species complex; a clade of morphologically similar annual killifishes endemic to the semi-arid savannah of north-eastern Brazil in the São Francisco River basin, which is a tropical area under intensive process of habitat loss. A taxonomic revision was conducted combining two...

The Hypsolebias flavicaudatus species complex is a clade of annual killifishes inhabiting seasonal pools associated to São Francisco River basin, in the semi-arid Caatinga region of northeastern Brazil. The analysis of both morphological and molecular data supports recognition of a new species of that complex, herein named as Hypsolebias guanambi....