Vertebrate Zoology 69(1): 73-82, doi: 10.26049/VZ69-1-2019-02 
Two new species of seasonal killifishes of the Nothobranchius melanospilus species complex from the East Africa biodiversity hotspot (Cyprinodontiformes: Aplocheilidae*)
expand article infoWilson José Eduardo Moreira da Costa‡§
‡ Rio de Janeiro, Brazil§ Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

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

© Wilson Costa.
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 (2019) Two new species of seasonal killifishes of the Nothobranchius melanospilus species complex from the East Africa biodiversity hotspot (Cyprinodontiformes: Aplocheilidae*). Vertebrate Zoology 69(1): 73-82. https://doi.org/10.26049/VZ69-1-2019-02 
Open Access
Abstract
During a revision of material identified in museum collections as Nothobranchius melanospilus, two new species were recognised: N. kwalensis, new species, from Ramisi River basin, southeastern Kenya, and N. prognathus, new species, from upper Wami River basin, eastern Tanzania. Both new species are distinguished from N. melanospilus by the supraorbital series of neuromasts well-separated, and presence of fewer madibular neuromasts. Nothobranchius prognathus is disinguished from other species of the N. melanospilus complex by shape of snout and eye, frontal squamation, and basal portion of the pelvic fins medially united in males. Additional morphometric characters were found informative to diagnose species of the N. melanospilus complex.
Keywords
Kenya, Mkata River, Ramisi River, Tanzania, Tendigo Swamp, Systematics.