Abstract
Bryconops collettei and B. magoi are described from the Caura and Miamo (Bolívar State), Iguapo (Amazonas State) and Moquete (Anzoátegui State) rivers, Venezuela. These new species belong to the subgenus Bryconops, based upon apomorphies of the jaws and gill rakers and are compared with members of the subgenus. Based on morphology, meristics and color patterns, B. collettei and B. magoi are distinguished from B. caudomaculatus, the closest species in the subgenus, by having a generally more slender body, pored scales of the lateral line extending beyond the hypural plate, and a diffuse ocellus partially filled with red color only on the upper lobe of the caudal fin. Bryconops collettei is distinguished from B. magoi on the basis of meristic and morphometric characteristics. B. caudomaculatus has been largely misidentified in the literature and we provide comments as a guide to its proper recognition.
References
Bookstein, F.L., Chernoff, B., Elder, R. L., Humphries, J.M., Smith, G.R. & Strauss, R.E. (1985) Morphometrics in Evolutionary Biology. The Geometry of Size and Shape Change, with Examples from Fishes. Academy of Natural Sciences Special Publication No. 15, Philadelphia, 277 pp.
Chernoff, B. & Machado-Allison, A. (1990) Characid fishes of the genus Ceratobranchia, with descriptions of new species from Venezuela and Perú. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 142, 261–290.
Chernoff, B. & Machado-Allison, A. (1999) Bryconops colaroja and B. colanegra, two new species from the Cuyuní and Caroní drainages of South America (Teleostei: Characiformes). Ichthyological Explorations of Freshwaters, 10, 355–370.
Chernoff, B., Machado-Allison, A., Buckup, P. & Royero, R. (1994) Systematic status and neotype designation for Autanichthys giacopinii Fernández-Yépez with comments on the morphology of Bryconops melanurus (Bloch). Copeia, 1994, 238–242.
Chernoff, B., Machado-Allison, A., Provenzano, F., Willink, P. & Petry, P. (2002) Bryconops imitator a new species from the Caura River Basin of Venezuela (Characiformes, Teleostei). Ichthyological Explorations of Freshwaters, 13, 193–202.
Eigenmann, C.H. (1908) Preliminary descriptions of new genera and species of the tetragonopterid characins. Bulletin of Comparative Zoology, Harvard College, 52, 91–106.
Eigenmann, C.H. (1912) The freshwater fishes of British Guiana, including a study of the ecological grouping of species, and the relation of the fauna of the plateau to that of the lowlands. Memoirs of the Carnegie Museum, 5, 1–578.
Eigenmann, C. & Myers, G. (1929) The American Characidae. Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 43, 429–558.
Fink, W.L. & Weitzman, S.H. (1974) The so-called cheirodontin fishes of Central America with descriptions of two new species (Pisces: Characidae). Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology, 172, 1–46.
Günther, A. (1864) A Catalogue of Fishes in the British Museum. Vol. 5 London, xxii+455 pp.
Kner, R. (1858) Beitrage zur Familie der Characiden. Sitzungsberichte der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien, (Math-naturwissenschaften Klasse), 30, 75–80.
Machado-Allison, A., Buckup, P., Chernoff, B. & Royero, R. (1993) Las especies del género Bryconops en Venezuela. Acta Biológica Venezuelica, 14, 1–20.
Machado-Allison, A., Chernoff, B. & Buckup, P. (1996) Bryconops humeralis and B. vibex, dos nuevas especies especies del género Bryconops Kner (1858) para Venezuela. Acta Biológica Venezuelica, 16, 43–58.
Machado-Allison, A. & Chernoff, B. (1997) Bryconops disruptus (Characiformes-Characidae), una nueva especie de pez de la cuenca del Río Negro en Brasil y Venezuela. Acta Biológica Venezuelica, 17, 67–75.
Rodríguez, A. & Lewis, W. (1990) Diversity and species composition of fish communities of Orinoco floodplain lakes. National Geographic Research, 6, 319–328.
Rohlf, F.J. (1993) Relative warp analysis and an example of its application to mosquito wings. In: Marcus, L.F., Bello, E. & García-Valdecasas, A. (Ed.), Contributions to Morphometrics. Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid, Spain, 131–159
Rohlf, F.J. (1998) TPSDIG. State University of New York at Stony Brook, NY.
Rohlf, F.J. (1999) TPSRELW. State University of New York at Stony Brook, NY.
Sidlauskas, B., Chernoff, B. & Machado-Allison, A. (2006) Geographic and environmental variation in Bryconops cf. melanurus (Ostariophysi: Characidae) from the Brazilian Pantanal. Ichthyological Research, in press.