African freshwater fish systematics

Additions and changes to the scientific and common names of southern African freshwater fishes made since 1993, are recorded and explained. Nineteen new scientific names are listed including five new species, three genus-name changes, three species-name changes and four new records from the area. Recommended common names for nineteen species are listed.

Table of lineage specific ΦST values. (DOC)

Congo River basin catfishes previously identified as Doumea alula (Amphiliidae, Doumeinae) were found to include three species that belong not to the genus Doumea but are, instead, the sister-group to a clade formed by all remaining Doumeinae. The species are assigned to a new genus, Congoglanis. Characters delimiting the Doumeinae and the clade consisting of all members of the subfamily except Congoglanis are detailed. Congoglanis alula is distributed throughout much of the Congo River basin; C. inga, new species, is known only from the lower Congo River in the vicinity of Inga Rapids; and C. sagitta, new species, occurs in the Lualaba River basin of Zambia in the southeastern portion of the Congo River system.

We morphologically and genetically studied the southern African electric fish Petrocephalus catostoma, or churchill, and its six nominal species, five of which by synonymization (three valid subspecies). We reinstate the synonymized species, and recognize Petrocephalus tanensis (Whitehead and Greenwood, 195982. Whitehead , PJ and Greenwood , PH. 1959. Mormyrid fishes of the genus Petrocephalus in Eastern Africa, with a redescription of Petrocephalus gliroides (Vinc.). Rev Zool Bot Afr., 60: 283–295. View all references) from the Tana River in Kenya, also using electric organ discharges. The Okavango delta (Botswana) is inhabited by Petrocephalus okavangensis sp. nov. and Petrocephalus magnitrunci sp. nov., and the Namibian Cunene River by Petrocephalus magnoculis sp. nov. We recognize Petrocephalus petersi sp. nov. for the Lower Zambezi River (Mozambique), and Petrocephalus longicapitis sp. nov. for the Upper Zambezi River (Namibia). The Lufubu River in Northern Zambia is inhabited by Petrocephalus longianalis sp. nov. For the southern churchill, Petrocephalus wesselsi Kramer and Van der Bank, 200038. Kramer , B and Van der Bank , FH. 2000. The southern churchill, Petrocephalus wesselsi, a new species of mormyrid from South Africa defined by electric organ discharges, genetics, and morphology. Environ Biol Fishes., 59: 393–413. [CrossRef], [Web of Science ®], [CSA]View all references, we confirm intraspecific and interspecific differentiation. Sequence data from mitochondrial DNA confirm differentiation of two new western and two eastern species, forming mutual sister groups.

Africa is blessed with an abundance and rich diversity of freshwater fishes, reflecting its Gondwanan history and geographical position astride the equator. Africa is, however, relatively poorly serviced scientifically, in this respect presenting a challenge to the tension between conserving biodiversity and sustainable development. Biosystematics has experienced several paradigm shifts in the past half century, including the rise of cladistics and more recently the adoption of molecular DNA applications to taxonomy and phylogeny and the assembly and manipulation of large data sets in an era of major development of bioinformatics. The richness of African biodiversity is a magnet to the global systematic community that, to a degree, offsets the disadvantage of an impoverished indigenous scientific capacity. Conservation biology, however, is rooted more closely to the local situation and therefore requires indigenous taxonomic services that are inevitably scarce. Balancing this network of tensions between scientific knowledge generation and application is like walking a tightrope for existing African scientific resources, and to cope it is essential to embrace modern innovative approaches such as barcoding to identify organisms. This paper considers the historical development of African freshwater ichthyology, presents a suite of recent examples illustrating trends in systematic ichthyology in Africa and draws conclusions to suggest that both traditional and new-age approaches to taxonomy are necessary for a complete understanding and appreciation of African freshwater fish diversity and its conservation. The chosen examples also suggest that the tensions between the approaches can be effectively managed provided exponents work collaboratively. The emerging evidence indicates that the combined skills and insight of complex scientific teams including systematists, ecologists, molecular biologists and earth scientists are needed to resolve the deep complexity of evolution in terms of space, time and form.

Changes made to the scientific names of southern African freshwater fishes since 2001 are explained and discussed. Adjustments to the phylogeny and classification of the fauna are outlined. Recent systematic studies on cyprinines are discussed and changes to the genera Labeobarbus (expanded concept), Pseudobarbus (expanded concept), and Enteromius are supported. The introduction of the family names Alestidae and Nothobranchiidae is discussed. Adjustments made to the genera Nannocharax, Micropanchax, Tilapia, Coptodon and Mastacembelus are explained. Species name changes for Hepsetus and Zaireichthys are detailed. New species described from the region, or resurrected from synonymy, since 2001 are listed.