Taxonomic revision of the genus Australoheros RICAN & KULLANDER, 2006 (Teleostei: Cichlidae) with descriptions of nine new species from southeastern Brazil

Abstract

Nine new species of Australoheros from Southern Brazil are herein described: Australoheros autrani from rio São João basin; A. barbosae from rio Preto basin, rio Paraíba do Sul basin; A. ipatinguensis from rio Doce basin; A. macacuensis from rio Macacu basin, A. macaensis from rio Macaé basin, A. muriae from rio Muriaé basin, rio Paraíba do Sul basin; A. paraibae from rio do Peixe basin, rio Paraíba do Sul basin; A. robustus from córrego da Areia basin, rio Paraíba do Sul basin; and A. saquarema from lagoa de Saquarema system. The new species are easily distinguished from their congeners from South Brazil, Northern Argentina and North Uruguay (except A. scitulus) by having 12 caudal vertebrae (vs. 13 or more). The new species are distinguished from A. scitulus and A. forquilha by having no dark marks on side of head (vs. dark marks present on side of head), and differ from A. ribeirae by meristic counts. The nine new species differ from each other by several meristic counts, some morphometric measurements, shape of the snout and color pattern. A new phylogeny of the genus is required, because when these new species from Southern Brazil are included into the groups proposed by RÍCAN & KULLANDER (2006, 2008), the characters turns incongruent.