Saturday, April 4, 2020

[Ichthyology • 2014] Papiliolebias ashleyae • A New Annual Fish (Cyprinodontiformes: Rivulidae) from the upper Rio Mamoré basin, Bolivia


Papiliolebias ashleyae 
 Nielsen & Brousseau, 2014 

Abstract 
Papiliolebias ashleyae n. sp. is described from Bolivia, departamento de Santa Cruz, Rio San Pablo, upper Mamoré basin. Papiliolebias ashleyae n. sp. is distinguished from other Papiliolebias species by a combination of characters: male overall color pattern of body, caudal- and pelvic-fins brownish red (vs. dark blue); transverse brownish red bars in dorsal and anal fins located between black and white bar at base of dorsal and anal fins and blue area in distal part of dorsal and anal fins (vs. absence of redbrown stripe on the remaining species of the genus, where the color of dorsal and anal fins is blue with a black stripe and white spots at the base of the fins); dorsal-fin origin at vertical through base of anal fin rays 9th-10th (vs. dorsal fin origin at vertical through base of anal fin rays 7th-8th in P. bitteri and 6th-9th in P. hatinne) and pelvic fins separated by small interspace of 4 mm (vs. not separated).

Fig. 1. Papiliolebias ashleyae, male, holotype, 34.7 mm SL: Bolivia, San José dos Chiquitos (in life).
Photo by D. Nielsen.

Papiliolebias ashleyae, n. sp.

Diagnosis: Papiliolebias ashleyae differs from the remaining species of Papiliolebias by a lower prepelvic length in males (43.6-44.7% SL vs. 44.9- 51.5% SL), a lower pre-pelvic length in females (43.3-46.8% SL vs. 48.2-51.7% SL), and by the color pattern of males which shows an overall redbrownish coloration, including the dorsal, caudal and pelvic fins basis (vs. overall color pattern dark blue, but never red-brown). It also presents a reddish-brown stripe on the basis of the dorsal and anal fins, with whitish blotches, and distal portion of anal- and caudal-fins bluish (vs. absence of reddish-brown stripe in the remaining species of the genus, where the caudal and anal-fin basis possess white and black spots); dorsal-fin origin at vertical through base of anal-fin rays 9th-10th (vs. 7th-8th in P. bitteri and 6th-9th in P. hatinne); body with brownish-red background and iridescent greenishblue scales, forming slender, oblique, ladder-like stripes (vs. oblique thick lines arranged parallel to each other); pelvic-fin red, with three spots (from basal to distal portion of fin): white, dark red and white (vs. dark blue without spots); third pelvic fin-rays transformed into a filament (vs. third pelvic-fin ray not transformed into a filament), and pelvic-fin separated by a small 4 mm interspace (vs. not separated).

Etymology: In honor of the daughter of Dr. Roger Brousseau, Ashley Kimberly Brousseau, who collected the first specimen of the species.


Dalton Tavares Bressane Nielsen and Roger Brousseau. 2014. Description of A New Annual Fish, Papiliolebias ashleyae (Cyprinodontiformes: Rivulidae) from the upper Rio Mamoré basin, Bolivia. aqua, International Journal of Ichthyology. 20(1); 53-59.