Revision of Prodontocharax and revalidation of Amblystilbe (Teleostei: Characidae: Cheirodontinae), with description of a new species

Abstract Prodontocharax species are revised and the genus Amblystilbe is revalidated based on analysis of type-material and additional specimens. Both genera are diagnosed based on unique synapomorphies among members of the Cheirodontinae related to shape, size, number and arrangement of teeth in the jaw bones. Prodontocharax melanotus, from the upper rio Madeira basin, Brazil and Bolivia, is redescribed, and a new species is described from the rio Huallaga basin, Peru. The genus Amblystilbe and its type-species, A. howesi, are redescribed from the Amazonas River basin, Bolivia, Brazil, and Peru, and Prodontocharax alleni is considered a junior synonym of A. howesi. The two species of Prodontocharax are distinguished by the color pattern, number of lamellae of the olfactory rosette in male and female and number of gill rakers, and differ from A. howesi by the number and shape of teeth, color pattern and number of branched anal-fin rays. According to recent studies, the species of Prodontocharax and A. howesi cluster into two distinct clades among the cheirodontines

Primeiro registro de um raro peixe parasita Pseudostegophilus paulensis no rio Paranapanema e sua distribuição atual no Brasil

Pseudostegophilus paulensis Miranda Ribeiro 1918 is an endemic parasitic species from the state of São Paulo, southeastern Brazil, with few registered occurrences in databases (15 records). Here, we present the first record of P. paulensis in the middle portion of the Anhumas River, a tributary of the Paranapanema River right bank. Specimens were collected in two environments with different ecological characteristics (lotic water running over gravel sediment and semi-lotic water with silty sediment on the bottom). We also present an updated occurrence map of the species in Brazil. This new record of P. paulensis in the upper Paraná River basin extends the geographic distribution of the species to the South of the state of São Paulo.  Furthermore, important ecological information remains unknown due to the lack of data about this group, such as habitat niches, vertical migration, growth patterns, reproduction, and feeding behavior.Pseudostegophilus paulensis Miranda Ribeiro 1918 é uma espécie de peixe parasita endêmica do estado de São Paulo, sudeste do Brasil, com poucas ocorrências registradas em bancos de dados (15 registros). Aqui, apresentamos o primeiro registro de P. paulensis na porção média do rio Anhumas, afluente da margem direita do rio Paranapanema. Os espécimes foram coletados em dois ambientes com características ecológicas distintas (água lótica correndo sobre sedimento pedregulho e água semilótica com sedimento arenoso no fundo). Apresentamos também um mapa de ocorrência atualizado da espécie no Brasil. Este novo registro de P. paulensis na bacia do alto rio Paraná estende a distribuição geográfica da espécie para o sul do estado de São Paulo. Além disso, informações ecológicas importantes permanecem desconhecidas devido à falta de dados sobre esse grupo, como nichos de habitat, migração vertical, padrões de crescimento, reprodução e comportamento alimentar

Photography-based taxonomy is inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences

The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; Nemésio 2009a–b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009; Cianferoni & Bartolozzi 2016; Amorim et al. 2016). This question was again raised in a letter supported by 35 signatories published in the journal Nature (Pape et al. 2016) on 15 September 2016. On 25 September 2016, the following rebuttal (strictly limited to 300 words as per the editorial rules of Nature) was submitted to Nature, which on 18 October 2016 refused to publish it. As we think this problem is a very important one for zoological taxonomy, this text is published here exactly as submitted to Nature, followed by the list of the 493 taxonomists and collection-based researchers who signed it in the short time span from 20 September to 6 October 2016

A new species of Bryconamericus (Characidae: Stevardiinae: Diapomini) from the upper rio Paraná basin, Brazil

ABSTRACT Bryconamericus is the most diverse genus within Stevardiinae, comprising 61 valid species distributed in Cis- and Trans-Andean basins from Panama in Central America to northern Argentina in South America. Three species are known from the upper rio Paraná basin: B. exodon, B. iheringii, and B. turiuba. Herein we describe a new species of Bryconamericus from the upper rio Paraná basin inhabiting tributaries of Ivaí, Piquiri, and Tibagi basins, Paraná State, Brazil. The new species differs from its congeners by the presence of unaligned teeth in the outer tooth row of the premaxilla; a single, vertical, dorsally expanded and rounded humeral spot; 36-39 pored scales in the longitudinal series; body depth 31.6-37.9% SL; anal-fin base length 24.8-30.1% SL; number of branched anal-fin rays 19-22, and bony hooks on pelvic- and anal-fin rays of sexually dimorphic males. The new species is syntopic with other Stervadiinae in the upper rio Paraná basin such as B. iheringii, B. turiuba, Piabarchus stramineus, and Piabina argentea

A new species of Serrapinnus Malabarba, 1998 (Characidae: Cheirodontinae) from Rio Grande do Norte State, northeastern Brazil

Serrapinnus potiguar, new species, is described from the rio Ceará-Mirim, a coastal drainage in the Rio Grande do Norte State, northeastern Brazil. The new species is distinguished from the other species of the genus by the shape and arrangement of the ventral procurrent caudal-fin rays of the sexually dimorphic males; where the hypertrophied elements present the shape of a series of scimitars arranged radially, forming a semi-circle on the ventral margin of the caudal peduncle. Furthermore, the new species is diagnosed from S. heterodonand S. piaba, sympatric congeners from the northeastern Brazilian drainages, respectively by the presence of incomplete lateral line and teeth bearing at most five cusps