Male at Higga Reef
A male of Metriaclima tarakiki at Higga Reef, Lake Malawi [Tanzania]. Foto von Ad Konings. identifiziert durch Ad Konings

Familie
Cichlidae

Unterfamilie
Pseudocrenilabrinae

Gattung
Metriaclima


Verwalter

Veröffentlicht:

Zuletzt aktualisiert am :
08-Mai-2013

Metriaclima tarakiki Stauffer, Black & Konings, 2013


08-Mai-2013 — Five new Metriaclima described
Von Ad Konings

Metriaclima zebra is arguably the most iconic cichlid from Lake Malaŵi even though it was described from a single type of unknown origin. It was suggested earlier (Konings 2007) that the holotype probably originated from Likoma Island and in this paper (Stauffer et al. 2013) this has been substantiated by comparing the holotype with several populations at Likoma Island, from one of which the type could not be distinguished.

Apart from the description of three species, Metriaclima lundoense, M. tarakiki, and M. pambazuko, which were known before and are now formally described, one species turned out to be a cryptic one that I had not anticipated: Metriaclima midomo. The interesting part is that the so-called “Blue Blaze” zebra from Tanzania and Chizumulu Island, did not turn out to be morphologically different from other M. zebra, even though this variant is often smaller than “standard” M. zebra. The blue blaze zebra from Lundo Island (Tanzania) though, showed significant and distinct differences with all other Tanzanian zebra-like species that it was described as a different species: M. midomo. It is endemic to Lundo Island where it shares the rocky habitat with at least four other members of Metriaclima.

While Stauffer et al. (2013) determined distinction between M. midomo and M. zebra, they could not find any significant difference between four species that I had initially classified as different: M. sp. ‘black dorsal chiloelo, M. sp. ‘black dorsal nkolongwe’, M. sp. ‘black dorsal nkhungu’, and M. sp. ‘black dorsal thundu’. All these variants are now grouped under the species Metriaclima nigrodorsalis.

In the course of their investigations Stauffer et al. (2013) also realized that the name of the species Pseudotropheus pursus was incorrect. In the original publication, under the heading etymology the meaning of the specific epithet was given as: “The name pursus, from the Latin meaning clean, was chosen to reflect the cleaning behavior of this species.” This was clear evidence of an inadvertent error and according to rule 32.5.1. of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, it had to be corrected. The Latin for “clean” is “purus” and Stauffer et al. (2013) corrected the name to Metriaclima purum (Stauffer 1991), but on this site the species is regarded synonymous to M. lanisticola and the original genus name is thus retained and the species is now referred to as Pseudotropheus purus.

Stauffer, Jay Richard Jr. & K. Black, A.F. Konings. 2013. "Descriptions of five new species of Metriaclima (Teleostei: Cichlidae) from Lake Malawi, Africa". Zootaxa. 3647(1):101-136. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3647.1.6 (crc05041) (Kurzfassung)