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Undescribed species
The western part of the Congo Basin has already been well explored, and it is
likely that few new species will be discovered in this region. But nothing can
be ruled out: Huber didn’t find Aphyosemion plagitaenium when he collected
in this area back in 1978; it was discovered by De Waegeneer, Vlym, and Van
der Berg in 1991 during the RPC trip. This species appears to be restricted to a
very small area, and there may be other species with very limited distribution
regions of this type. On the other hand, A. “schioetzi” was collected several
times by Huber at different locations, but not by the RPC team in 1991.
The northern part of the Congo drainage undoubtedly harbors as yet
undescribed species, because, for example, several very different-looking (even
when preserved) Aphyosemion, which do not accord with any currently known
species, were collected there by missionaries and deposited in museums. There
are at least two phenotypes that may represent new species in the rainforest
between the Uele and the Congo. One of them was recently collected and
photographed by Uli Schliewen (ZSM).
A very interesting species lives in the savanna in the northeast of the Uele
basin. To date the only savanna-dwellers recognized within Aphyosemion s. l.
are Kathetys elberti, K. bamilekorum, and Aphyosemion rectogoense. Unfortunately,
no traces of the color pattern remain visible in the preserved specimens. A
possibly new Epiplatys species has also been found in the same area.
In various places in the east, south of the distribution of Aphyosemion
christyi, a phenotype occurs that has a rather similar color pattern to A. christyi;
the red dots are, however, much smaller. It is probable that further differences
will be found as soon as the live coloration of this species is known.
So far there have been only a very few collections made in the southern
part of the Congo Basin. Every southern tributary of the Kasai possibly has
its own endemic species, as all these rivers are separated from one another
by savanna. As already mentioned above, at least one striking fish, similar to
Aphyosemion polli, occurs there. The distance from other A. polli localities is
very great. That would give Aphyosemion polli probably the largest distribution
of all Aphyosemion s. l. with the exception of Raddaella batesii. On the other
hand, the similarity of the color pattern (in preserved specimens) may be
coincidental.
A collecting trip east from Kinshasa, investigating every southern tributary
of the Kasai, would probably produce very exciting results. Initially you would
find Aphyosemion cognatum and A. congicum. Further south in the Wamba, you
would probably be able to capture “Aphyosemion” teugelsi. But thereafter, further
east, every catch would likely be a surprise. Another interesting trip would
be a journey along the northern border of Angola. Although the numerous
Kasai tributaries offer promising habitats, to date not a single Aphyosemion
has been collected there. So far, only a number of interesting lampeyes are
known from this region, unfortunately only as preserved material.
Acknowledgments: We would like to thank Werner Eigelshofen (Sprockhövel),
Mark Hanssens (RMCA, Tervuren, Belgium), Paul Lemmens (Leuven,
Belgium), Heinz Ott (Mönchengladbach), Klaus Stehle (Attenkirchen), and
Emmanuel Vreven (RMCA, Tervuren, Belgium) for permission to use their
photos. We would also like to thank U. Schliewen, A. Van Deun, the ichthyological
team at the RMCA in Tervuren, and the Elegans-AG of the DKG for
supporting us in our work.
REFERENCES
Extensive references for this article can be found online at the Reef to Rainforest site:
http://www.reef2rainforest.com/aphyosemion-issue-references/.
AMAZONAS
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