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| [A-C] Labrochromis mawe [G-I] Labrochromis mawepili Mahulu & Seehausen, 2025 |
Abstract
Lake Victoria is home to a unique and taxonomically understudied species flock of endemic haplochromine cichlid fishes, with many morphologically specialized trophic groups and many different species in each of them. One of several mollusk-eating trophic groups are the pharyngeal snail-crushers of the genus Labrochromis Regan, 1920. Currently, six species from Lake Victoria have been described in this genus, none of which occupies rocky shores and reefs. Rocky shores and reefs of Lake Victoria, however harbor rich assemblages of habitat-specialized cichlids and these include snail-crushers. Here two new species of Labrochromis are described from this habitat in the Southeastern part of Lake Victoria. These species are distinct in their ecology, morphology, and male nuptial coloration from all previously described Labrochromis species, and they are distinct from each other in oral dentition, morphology, and stripe pattern. These species are named Labrochromis mawe sp. nov. and Labrochromis mawepili sp. nov. Both are currently only known from the Mwanza and Speke Gulf regions of the lake in Tanzania.
Key words: Haplochromine, Mwanza Gulf, pharyngeal crusher, Speke Gulf, taxonomy
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| A male Labrochromis mawe sp. nov. blue morph Python Island B male L. mawe sp. nov. red morph Python Island and C female L. mawe sp. nov. Python Island D, E two males L. mawe sp. nov. Kissenda island and F female L. mawe sp. nov. Kissenda Island G, H two males Labrochromis mawepili sp. nov. Makobe island and I female L. mawepili sp. nov. Makobe island. |
Labrochromis mawe sp. nov.
Etymology. Species name mawe from the Swahili word, for stone, referring to the habitat occupation of the species that is confined to rocks.
Labrochromis mawepili sp. nov.
Etymology. Species name mawepili, from Swahili, mawe means stone and pili means second. Refers to similarity in habitat association between this species and L. mawe and the superficial resemblance with the latter.
Anna Mahulu and Ole Seehausen. 2025. Two New Cichlid Species of the Genus Labrochromis from Rocky Reefs of Lake Victoria, Tanzania (Perciformes, Cichlidae). ZooKeys 1240: 117-137. DOI: doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1240.125699
