Vertebrate Zoology 64(2): 193-197, doi:
A new miniature killifish of the genus Melanorivulus (Cyprinodontiformes: Rivulidae) from the Xingu river drainage, Brazilian Amazon
expand article infoWilson José Eduardo Moreira da Costa‡§, Pedro F. Amorim, Pedro H. N. Bragança
‡ Rio de Janeiro, Brazil§ Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Corresponding author: Wilson Costa ( wcosta@acd.ufrj.br )

© Wilson Costa, Pedro Amorim, Pedro H. N. Bragança.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation: Costa WJEM, Amorim PF, Bragança PHN (2014) A new miniature killifish of the genus Melanorivulus (Cyprinodontiformes: Rivulidae) from the Xingu river drainage, Brazilian Amazon. Vertebrate Zoology 64(2): 193-197
Open Access
Abstract
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 Parnaíba river basin. The new species is distinguished from other congeners of this group by the presence of broad red bars on the caudal fin in males, bars often interconnected to form reticulations, and short red bars contrasting with intense light blue ground colour on the anal-fin base. It represents the northern-most record for the group, besides being the only species occurring in the Amazon rain forest and possibly is also the smallest one, barely surpassing 25 mm of standard length.
Keywords
Amazon forest, Biodiversity, Killifish, Systematics, Taxonomy.