Cryptomyrus: a new genus of Mormyridae (Teleostei,Osteoglossomorpha) with two new species from Gabon,West-Central Africa |
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Authors: | John P. Sullivan Sébastien Lavoué Carl D. Hopkins |
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Affiliation: | 1.Cornell University Museum of Vertebrates, 159 Sapsucker Woods Road, Ithaca, New York 14850 USA;2.Institute of Oceanography, National Taiwan University, Roosevelt Road, Taipei 10617, Taiwan;3.Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853 USA |
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Abstract: | We use mitochondrial and nuclear sequence data to show that three weakly electric mormyrid fish specimens collected at three widely separated localities in Gabon, Africa over a 13-year period represent an unrecognized lineage within the subfamily Mormyrinae and determine its phylogenetic position with respect to other taxa. We describe these three specimens as a new genus containing two new species. Cryptomyrus, new genus, is readily distinguished from all other mormyrid genera by a combination of features of squamation, morphometrics, and dental attributes. Cryptomyrusogoouensis, new species, is differentiated from its single congener, Cryptomyrusona, new species, by the possession of an anal-fin origin located well in advance of the dorsal fin, a narrow caudal peduncle and caudal-fin lobes nearly as long as the peduncle. In Cryptomyrusona, the anal-fin origin is located only slightly in advance of the dorsal fin, the caudal peduncle is deep and the caudal-fin lobes considerably shorter than the peduncle. Continued discovery of new taxa within the “Lower Guinea Clade” of Mormyridae highlights the incompleteness of our knowledge of fish diversity in West-Central Africa. We present a revised key to the mormyrid genera of Lower Guinea. |
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Keywords: | Weakly electric fish, taxon-name" > subfamily" >Mormyrinae, integrative taxonomy, phylogeny, DNA, electric organ discharge, EOD, African freshwater fishes, rarity |
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