Sven Kullander

• Professor Emeritus
• Professor Emeritus at Swedish Museum of Natural History

Modern advances in DNA sequencing hold the promise of facilitating descriptions of new organisms at ever finer precision but have come with challenges as the major Codes of bionomenclature contain poorly defined requirements for species and subspecies diagnoses (henceforth, species diagnoses), which is particularly problematic for DNA-based taxonom...

Pike cichlids form the largest clade of Neotropical cichlids, with over 100 species presently classified in two genera: Crenicichla (93 species widespread in rivers of South America east of the Andes) and Teleocichla (nine rheophilic Amazonian species). Here, we combined a new dataset of 216 morphological characters with molecular data compiled fro...

Morphological and genetic analyses of species of Australoheros focusing on those distributed in coastal rivers from the Rio de La Plata north to the Rio Buranhém, support recognition of 17 valid species in the genus. Eight species are represented in coastal rivers: A acaroides, A. facetus, A. ipatinguensis, A. oblongus, A. ribeirae, and A. sanguine...

Dario tigris, new species, is described from mountain streams south of Mogaung, in the Ayeyarwaddy River basin, Myanmar. It differs from congeneric species by its unique colour pattern, which consists of a series of eight straight vertical bars, the first two of which in males are ash-grey and the subsequent six are orange-red in life, combined wit...

Specimens of Devario from a tributary to the Salween River in Myanmar initially identified as Devario browni but with a different colour pattern, were subjected to a comparative morphological analysis with syntypes and other specimens of D. browni from near its putative type locality. The Salween sample was recognised as representing a distinct spe...

Originally described as Muraena alba by the Russian ichthyologist Basilius Zuiew (1793) [Vasilij Fyodorovich Zuev’], the name Monopterus albus has long been used for a species of swamp eel (Synbranchidae) with a reportedly widespread occurrence in Asia (Rosen & Greenwood 1976, Kottelat 2013). In recent years molecular studies have shown that Monopt...

A new species of Satanoperca is described from the Rio Araguaia, Rio Tocantins basin, Brazil, and non-native records are available in the upper Rio Paraná basin. It differs from congeneric species by color pattern characters, such as head and flank marks. It is included in the Satanoperca jurupari species group, characterized by the absence of blac...

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

We sequenced the standard DNA barcode gene fragment in 694 newly collected specimens, representing 243 species level Operational Barcode Units (OBUs) of freshwater fishes from Bangladesh. We produced coi sequences for 149 out of the 237 species already recorded from Bangladesh. Another 83 species sequenced were not previously recorded for the count...

Five species of Badidae are reported from Bangladesh, with morphological diagnoses and mitochondrial DNA sequences (cytochrome b, cytb; and cytochrome c oxidase subunit I, coi). Dario kajal is recorded from Bangladesh for the first time with a precise locality. Badis badis is reported from several localities in central Bangladesh. Badis chittagongi...

Osteobrama cotio is considered to be a widespread species in India and Bangladesh. Mitochondrial DNA (COI, 16S rRNA) shows that populations from the Meghna River, Karnafuli and Sangu Rivers, Narmada River, and Godavari River are genetically distinct from each other. No morphological differences were found to separate Meghna and Karnafuli+Sangu popu...

We present the complete mitochondrial genome and a phylogenetic analysis of the danionine cyprinid Betadevario ramachandrani, endemic to the Western Ghats in India. Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of all available mitochondrial genomes of Danionina show that B. ramachandrani is the most basal member of a clade also containing Devario, Microdevario a...

Taxonomy is a scientific discipline that has provided the universal naming and classification system of biodiversity for centuries and continues effectively to accommodate new knowledge. A recent publication by Garnett and Christidis [1] expressed concerns regarding the difficulty that taxonomic changes represent for conservation efforts and propos...

Laubuka tenella is a new species characterized by the colour pattern, consisting of short dark vertical bars anteriorly on the side, and a dark lateral band posteriorly on the side, combined with a relatively short pelvic fin and 29–30 lateral-line scales. It is separated from other Laubuka analysed by minimum 9 % uncorrected p -distance in the mit...

Satanoperca curupira, new species, is described from the rio Madeira basin in the State of Rondônia, Brazil. It is distinguished from all congeners by the following combination of characters: 3–7 dark-brown oblique stripes on the lachrymal (vs. 2 well-defined dark-brown stripes, or dark-brown stripes absent) and an irregular pattern of dark-brown s...

Crenicichla ploegi, new species, is described based on material from the Rio Juruena (Rio Papagaio, Rio do Sangue, Rio Arinos, and Rio Juruena itself) and from tributaries of the upper Rio Paraguai (upper Rio Jauru, upper Rio Cabaçal and upper Rio Sepotuba) in Mato Grosso, Brazil. Crenicichla ploegi is the twenty-third species of the C. saxatilis g...

Four species of Devario are recorded from Bangladesh: D. aequipinnatus, D. anomalus, D. coxi, new species, and D. devario. Devario aequipinnatus has a wide distribution in northern India and Bangladesh. Devario coxi, from southeastern Bangladesh near Cox’s Bazar, differs from D. aequipinnatus in mtDNA (COI, p-distance 1.8%), colouration, proportion...

Stone loach, Barbatula barbatula, occurs in scattered localities in Sweden. Some of the populations have usually been considered as feral descendants of escaped 18th Century pond stock, but historical documentation is inconclusive. Using the mitochondrial COI gene as a marker, we analyzed specimens from seven Swedish localities. One of the middle S...

The Croaking Gourami, Trichopsis vittata (Cuvier, 1831), is native to Southeast Asia and Sundaland, with introductions reported from USA, Philippines and India. The species was found by us in Myanmar (1997 and 2013), and Bangladesh (2014 and 2016). DNA analysis supports the view that T. vittata is a species complex. Specimens from Bangladesh, Myanm...

Devario comprises 38 potentially valid species in southern Asia. Ten species of Devario have been reported so far from Myanmar, six of which belong in the group of striped devarios, with predominantly horizontal stripes in the colour pattern. Among them, records of D. aequipinnatus most likely represent misidentifications. Remaining species of stri...

The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; Nemésio 2009a–b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009;...

This plot is not part of the published stance but derives from it. The plot shows the number of authors by geographic region (courtesy of Dr. Diego Astua).

Danio htamanthinus, new species, is described from small streams in the vicinity of Htamanthi on the middle Chindwin River. It is most similar to D. choprae and D. flagrans from the Ayeyarwaddy River drainage, sharing the same elaborate colour pattern with dark vertical bars and a red interstripe along the posterior side, but is distinguished by th...

Garra mini, new species, is described from the Shuvolong, Shailopropat and Chingthong waterfalls in the Karnafuli and Sangu River drainages. The largest specimens recorded is 46.8 mm SL and specimens over 40 mm SL have reached reproductive size. Alongside G. ethelwynnae (28 mm SL) and G. poecilura (44.5 mm SL), G. mini is one of the smallest specie...

Teleocichla preta nov. sp. inhabits the rapids along the Rio Xingu and lower portion of the Rio Iriri. It is the largest species in the genus, reaching 121·3 mm standard length (LS ) while others do not reach more than 87·8 mm LS . Teleocichla preta is distinguished from all other species of Teleocichla by the unique blackish (in live specimens) or...

In a re-description of the South Asian fish species Nemachilichthys ruppelli (Sykes, 1839a) Keskar et al. (2015) noticed-as also pointed out by Kottelat (2012)-that the original spelling of the species name was rupelli [actually: Rupelli, with regular font and capital R], but that information in Sykes (1839a: 162) showed clearly that the species wa...

Gustaf Johan Billberg's review of ichthyology, published in Swedish in 1833 in the Linneska samfundets handlingar, mentions 92 fish taxa at genus and species level, 41 of which represent new taxa, unnecessary replacement names, or unjustified emendations. Billberg presents his own classification of fishes, in which five new family names are introdu...

Background: Reliable taxonomy underpins communication in all of biology, not least nature conservation and sustainable use of ecosystem resources. The flexibility of taxonomic interpretations, however, presents a serious challenge for end-users of taxonomic concepts. Users need standardised and continuously harmonised taxonomic reference systems,...

A cichlid species first collected by Alfred Russell Wallace in the upper Rio Negro in 1852, lost during the transport to England but documented in drawings, is described as Crenicichla monicae on the basis of three specimens collected by the Swedish Amazonas Expedition 1923-1925. Crenicichla monicae is most similar to C. johanna, C. rosemariae, and...

Danio annulosus, new species, is described from a small pool below the Shuvolong Falls in the Kaptai Lake system in Bangladesh. It shares with chain danios (D. assamila, D. dangila, D. catenatus, D. concatenatus, and D. sysphigmatus) a colour pattern consisting of series of dark rings with light interspaces along the side, complete lateral line, 14...

The native distribution of the small labyrinth fish species Pseudosphromenus cupanus includes southern India and Sri Lanka. According to literature it has a range including also Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Malaysia, and Indonesia (Sumatra) but there are no voucher specimens or reliable observations from those areas. The distribution record of P....

Danio feegradei Hora is redescribed based on recently collected specimens from small coastal streams on the western slope of the Rakhine Yoma, ranging from the Thade River drainage southward to slightly north of Kyeintali. Danio absconditus, new species, is described from the Kyeintali Chaung and small coastal streams near Gwa, south of the range o...

Danio dangila is widely distributed in the Ganga and lower Brahmaputra basins of India, Nepal and Bangladesh and distinguished by the cleithral spot in the shape of a short vertical stripe (vs. a round spot in all similar species). Four new species are described, similar to D. dangila but with round cleithral spot and each diagnosed by species spec...

Geophagus mirabilis, new species, is endemic to the rio Aripuanã drainage upstream from Dardanelos/Andorinhas falls. The new species is distinguished from all other species of the genus by the presence of one to five large black spots arranged longitudinally along the middle of the flank, in addition to the black midlateral spot that is characteris...

Apistogramma ortegai, new species, is described from small streams tributaries of the Ampiyacu River near Pebas, in eastern Peru. It belongs to the Apistogramma regani species group and is distinguished from all other species of Apistogramma by the combination of contiguous caudal spot to bar 7, presence of abdominal stripes, short dorsal-fin lappe...

Mlíkovský (2012) claimed that Muscicapa latirostris Raffles, 1822 was the correct name for the Asian Brown Flycatcher, and rejected its senior synonym, Muscicapa dauurica Pallas, 1811. Muscicapa dauurica is in equal or greater use today for this flycatcher, to which the references to it in Mlíkovský (2012) testify even though they are far from comp...

Chalinochromis cyanophleps is described from nine specimens, the largest 129 mm SL, from Namansi. It differs from other species of Chalinochromis in plain trunk colouration, absence of black stripes on the head, relatively narrow lips, presence of tricuspid jaw teeth, and presence of five rather than four dentary lateralis foramina. The blue irides...

Neolamprologus timidus, new species, is described from Ulwile Island and adjacent localities on the Tanzanian coast of Lake Tanganyika. The species was observed or collected along about 100 km of coastline from Kolwe Point, Cape Mpimbwe, south to Kisi Island. It is distinguished from the most similar species, N. furcifer, by presence of scales on m...

A group of 19 authors (Dubois et al. 2013) recently raised concerns about the latest Amendment to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN 2012a,b,c), that allows new names and other nomenclatural acts to gain legislative acceptance (become "available") from publications issued and distributed electronically. Two editorials by publis...

A recent phylogenetic analysis of the Myxinidae based on the 16S rRNA gene resulted in synonymization of Paramyxine with Eptatretus. This created homonymy of Paramyxine fernholmi with Eptatretus fernholmi and Paramyxine wisneri with Eptatretus wisneri. In order to resolve this nomenclatural dilemma, we made a more extensive phylogenetic assessment...

Dario kajal, new species, is described from Seinphoh stream in the Jaintia Hills of Meghalaya, India. It can be distinguished from all other congeners by the presence of a postorbital stripe that continues behind the eye in line with the preorbital stripe and by the presence in males of a series of double bars restricted to the upper half of the bo...

Glyptothorax igniculus, new species, is described from the Chindwin River system (part of the Irrawaddy River drainage) in northwestern Myanmar. It differs from other species of Glyptothorax in the Irrawaddy drainage except G. burmanicus in having a thoracic adhesive apparatus with a lanceolate central depression that is nearly enclosed posteriorly...

Perca argentea Linnaeus, 1758 and Perca vaila Osbeck, 1770 were cited in a number of early compilations of fishes, either as valid taxa or as synonyms, but disappeared from the literature after 1804. They are demonstrated here to represent senior synonyms of the Terapon theraps (Cuvier, 1829) and Dicentrarchus punctatus (Bloch, 1792), respectively....

Liao, T.Y. & Kullander, S.O. (2012). Phylogenetic significance of the kinethmoid‐associated Y‐shaped ligament and long intercostal ligaments in the Cypriniformes (Actinopterygii: Ostariophysi). — Zoologica Scripta , 42 , 71–87. The phylogenetic significance of the Y‐shaped and long intercostal ligaments in the Cypriniformes is examined using charac...

Danio flagrans, new species, is described from headwaters of the Mali Hka River in the vicinity of Putao in north-ern Myanmar. It is distinguished from D. choprae by longer barbels, longer caudal peduncle, shorter anal-fin base, more caudal vertebrae, fewer anal-fin rays, short vs. usually absent lateral line, details of the colour pattern, and mit...

Andinoacara blombergi, new species, is described from the río Esmeraldas basin in northern Ecuador. It is distinguished from the most similar species, A. rivulatus (Günther, 1860) by 25 vs. 24 scales in the El scale row, slightly higher average meristics, narrower head, and narrower interorbital space. Andinoacara rivulatus is redescribed on the ba...

Lepidiolamprologus kamambae is described from the Kamamba Island off the southeastern coast of Lake Tanganyika. It is similar to L. elongatus, L. kendalli, and L. mimicus in the presence of three horizontal rows of dark blotches along the sides. It differs from those species in the presence of a distinct suborbital stripe across the cheek. It is fu...

Whereas biological systematics and taxonomy are probably about the same kind of scientific enterprise, they were separated by Ernst Mayr in his classical text book, and taxonomy became cemented as a subset of systematics. A little over 40 years have passed since these definitions were expressed, and the work in which they appeared has become obsole...

The new species Satanoperca rhynchitis occurs in French Guiana in the Oyapock, Approuague, Comté, Kourou, Sinnamary and Iracoubo river drainages. It is distinguished from congeneric species in particular by lower meristics and a longer snout, probably also by red lips in life. Samples of Satanoperca from Amapá state in Brazil fall into two groups,...

Krobia xinguensis is described from localities in the headwaters and in the lower part of the rio Xingu. It is distinguished from the other two species in the genus, K. guianensis and K. itanyi, primarily by deeper caudal peduncle, and details of the colour pattern, including contrasting interorbital stripes and a small dark spot anteriorly on each...

Mikrogeophagus Meulengracht-Madsen, 1968 is the oldest available generic name that has Apistogramma ramirezi as type species. Papiliochromis Meulengracht-Madsen, 1975 is an objective junior synonym of Mikrogeophagus. Papilio-chromis Kullander, 1977 is an objective junior synonym of Mikrogeophagus and an objective junior synonym and hom-onym of Papi...

Crenicichla chicha, new species, occurs in clear, fast-running waters with rocky substrates in the rio Papagaio and tributaries. It is distinguished from all other Crenicichla species by the combination of two character states: infraorbitals 3 and 4 co-ossified (vs. separated) and 66-75 scales in the row immediately above to that containing the low...

The Lukuga River is a large permanent river intermittently serving as the only effluent of Lake Tanganyika. For at least the first one hundred km its water is almost pure lake water. Seventy-seven species of fish were collected from six localities along the Lukuga River. Species of cichlids, cyprinids, and clupeids otherwise known only from Lake Ta...

Trisopterus is demonstrated to be monophyletic, including four distinct species: T. capelanus, T. esmarkii, T. luscus and T. minutus. The capelan T. capelanus is resurrected from the synonymy of poor cod T. minutus, and is shown to be morphologically more similar to T. luscus, to which species it is also more closely related, indicated by a phyloge...

Te-Yu Liao, Sven O. Kullander, and Hung-Du Lin (2011) Synonymization of Pararasbora, Yaoshanicus, and Nicholsicypris with Aphyocypris, and description of a new species of Aphyocypris from Taiwan (Teleostei: Cyprinidae). Zoological Studies 50(5): 657-664. The genus Aphyocypris is a group of small fish distributed in East Asia. Aphyocypris amnis sp....

Analysis of mitochondrial cytochrome b sequences from 198 species confirms the position of Barilius mesopotamicus as a species of the Asian genus Barilius within the subtribe Chedrina in the subfamily Danioninae. This relationship is sup-ported by a parsimony analysis based on 43 morphological characters, and the morphological examination confirms...

The cyprinid subfamily Danioninae is one of the most important fish groups due to its inclusion of the model fish, Danio rerio. Molecular investigations have shown that species traditionally placed in the Danioninae are non-monophyletic, divided into two groups corresponding to the Danioninae and Opsariichthyinae. The Danioninae are further divided...

Dicrossus warzeli and D. foirni were described with focus on within-species colour pattern variation and aquarium observations. Validity of the two species is confirmed on the basis of wild specimens of D. warzeli from the lower Rio Tapajós between Itaituba (São Luis do Tapajós) and Cururu, and of D. foirni from tributaries of the middle Rio Negro...

Betadevario, new genus, with the single species B. ramachandrani, new species, from Karnataka, southwestern India, is closely related to Devario but differs from it in having two pairs of long barbels (vs. two pairs of short or rudimentary barbels, or barbels absent), wider cleithral spot which extends to cover three scales horizontally (vs. coveri...

Betadevario, new genus, with the single species B. ramachandrani, new species, from Karnataka, southwestern India, is closely related to Devario but differs from it in having two pairs of long barbels (vs. two pairs of short or rudimentary barbels, or barbels absent), wider cleithral spot which extends to cover three scales horizontally (vs. coveri...

We present and evaluate AquaMaps, a presence-only species distribution modelling system that allows the incorporation of expert knowledge about habitat usage and was designed for maximum output of standardized species range maps at the global scale. In the marine environment there is a significant challenge to the production of range maps due to la...

Phylogenetic analysis using Bayesian inference, likelihood and parsimony methods was conducted on 60 complete mitochondrial cytochrome b sequences from 21 species of Crenicichla, including all species known from Uruguay (Crenicichla celidochilus, Crenicichla lepidota Crenicichla minuano, Crenicichla missioneira, Crenicichla punctata, Crenicichla sc...

Liao, T. Y., Kullander, S. O. & Fang, F. (2009). Phylogenetic analysis of the genus Rasbora (Teleostei: Cyprinidae).—Zoologica Scripta, 39, 155–176. A phylogenetic analysis was conducted based on 35 cyprinid taxa, including 29 species of Rasbora, and 41 morphological characters. A strict consensus tree from four equally parsimonious trees recovered...

Distoechodon species are widely distributed in rivers of southern China. Previous studies recognized only two species in the genus, viz., D. tumirostris and D. hupeinensis. A morphological analysis of 164 specimens from different localities permits recognition of four species. Distoechodon tumirostris is mainly restricted to small coastal rivers in...

Danio tinwini, new species, is described from the upper course of the Mogaung Chaung, a right bank tributary of the Ayeyarwaddy River. It is distinguished from other species of Danio above all by the colour pattern, comprised of rows of dark spots along the side, and spotted dorsal, anal, pelvic, and caudal fins. From D. kyathit, with similar colou...

Danio quagga, new species, is described from the Chindwin River drainage near Kalaymyo and Tamu, western Myanmar. It is similar to D. kyathit from the Ayeyarwaddy and upper Chindwin River, but differs in having four to five contrasting dark stripes along the side, instead of rows of spots along the side, and shorter barbels. Danio quagga is similar...

Danio aesculapii, new species, is described from small rivers on the western slope of the Rakhine Yoma in south-western Myanmar. It is superficially similar to D. choprae from northern Myanmar in having a series of vertical bars anteriorly on the side, but differs from it and other species of Danio in having six instead of seven or more branched do...

Devario xyrops is described from small rivers on the western slope of the Rakhine Yoma in south-western Myanmar. It is distinguished from all other species in the genus except D. anomalus by its colour pattern including a dark blotch or condensed series of vertical bars anteriorly on the side, separate from a posterior dark horizontal band; and dis...

Danio aesculapii, new species, is described from small rivers on the western slope of the Rakhine Yoma in south-western Myanmar. It is superficially similar to D. choprae from northern Myanmar in having a series of vertical bars anteriorly on the side, but differs from it and other species of Danio in having six instead of seven or more branched do...

Molecular analysis of mitochondrial cytochrome b sequences from 159 species of the family Cyprinidae supports the subfamily Danioninae, of which Rasborinae is shown to be a junior synonym. Analysis of combined cytochrome b and a fragment of the nuclear rhodopsin gene from 68 species, including 43 species representing the subfamily Danioninae, suppo...

Crenicichla mandelburgeri, new species, is described from the streams Tembey, Pirayuy, Pirapó and Poromoco which are Paraguayan tributaries to the Paraná River. It is similar in particular to Crenicichla niederleinii, C. mucuryna, and C. jaguarensis, distinguished by relatively small size (114 mm SL), low scale counts, and details of the colour pat...

Crenicichla mandelburgeri, new species, is described from the streams Tembey, Pirayuy, Pirapó and Poromoco which are Paraguayan tributaries to the Paraná River. It is similar in particular to Crenicichla niederleinii, C. mucuryna, and C. jaguarensis, distinguished by relatively small size (114 mm SL), low scale counts, and details of the colour pat...

Eighteen species of agamid lizards are recognized from Sri Lanka, representing one subfamily: Draconinae. Thirteen of these species were described in the period 1758-1887. The early descriptions of agamid lizards were very brief and often written in languages other than English. Original descriptions and images of type specimens are provided for Ca...

FIGURE 3. Danio aesculapii. Collecting sites. The Kyeintali locality at the extreme south is approximate.

FIGURE 1. Danio aesculapii, drawing from Hora (1937: fig. 2), based on a 33 mm TL specimen from Thandwe.

FIGURE 4. Danio aesculapii. Type locality. Myanmar: Rakhine State: Thandwe: Kananmae Chaung, near Leldee village. 20 March 1998.

part of: International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature Special Session of the Commission - Paris, France, Saturday 23-Monday 25 August 2008

The current scale of global taxonomic studies poses considerable challenges to a registry developed in the age of printing press and card files. Some 15,000 to 20,000 new nominal species are proposed every year in zoology, and together with thousands of other Code-compliant nomenclatural acts these are scattered in a bewildering number of journals,...

Apistogramma macmasteri sp.n. (headwaters of the R. Meta), A. viejita sp.n. (near Puerto Gaitán), A. hongsloi sp.n. (the R. Guarrojo and the Can̄o Perro), and A. iniridae sp.n. (Puerto Inírida and the Can'o Bocón) are described from Colombia. A redescription is given of the types of A. hoignei Meinken (the R. Portuguesa, Venezuela). A. iniridae bel...

Australoheros Rican and Kullander, 2006 includes four described species - Australoheros facetus (Jenyns, 1842), Australoheros tembe (Casciotta, Gomez & Toresani, 1995), Australoheros scitulus (Rican & Kullander, 2003) and Australoheros kaaygua Casciotta, Almiron & Gomez, 2006. Four additional species are newly described in this paper based on resul...

Australoheros Ř íčan and Kullander, 2006 includes four described species—Australoheros facetus (Jenyns, 1842), Australoheros tembe (Casciotta, Gómez & Toresani, 1995), Australoheros scitulus (Říčan & Kullander, 2003) and Australoheros kaaygua Casciotta, Almirón & Gómez, 2006. Four additional species are newly described in this paper based on result...

Five small species of Puntius, all characterised by a prominent blotch or band on the caudal peduncle, occur syntopic in small streams around Myitkyina and also Lake Indawgyi in northern Myanmar. Puntius erythromycter, new species, is characterised by a small size (to 33.1 mm SL), a dark band around the caudal peduncle, an abbreviated lateral line,...

Puntius padamya, new species, is described from the type locality near Mandalay, in the Ayeyarwaddy River drainage, Myanmar. Referred specimens are reported from the lower Chindwin River. Puntius padamya is distinguished from other species of the P. con- chonius species group above all by the colour pattern. Males possess a broad red band from the...