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| ‘Geophagus’ pirangaensis Assis, Dergam & Henschel, in Assis, Dergam, Cunha, Machado, Hrbek, Vicente, Queiroz et Henschel, 2026 |
Abstract
A new species of pearl cichlid of the ‘Geophagus’ brasiliensis species group, endemic to the Piranga River, a major tributary of the upper Doce River basin in the state of Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil, is herein described. The new species is delimited using an integrative approach, with molecular-based species delimitation methods coupled with morphological diagnosis. For this, we developed a matrix containing 27 sequences of the mitochondrial gene cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) of species of the ‘G.’ brasiliensis species group obtained from GenBank and three new sequences generated in this work. The species delimitation method applied to the morphological characters was Population Aggregation Analysis (PAA), and the species delimitation methods applied to the nucleotide sequences were the branch coalescence methods: Bayesian Poisson Tree Processes (bPTP), General Mixed Yule Coalescent (GMYC) single-threshold and GMYC multi-threshold. The three molecular-based species delimitation methods corroborate that the haplotypes of ‘Geophagus’ from the Piranga River represent a new species distinguished from all other in the ‘G.’ brasiliensis species group by exclusive presence of clear, rounded spots in the posteriormost dorsal-fin rays in fixed adult specimens, and the combination of the following morphological characters: long snout (46.22%–52.74% of head length), tall head (94.08%–101.15% of head length), terminal mouth, 25 or 26 longitudinal scales on the E0 series, 14 or 15 spines on the dorsal fin, absence of bluish dots on the most anterior soft rays of the anal fin in live specimens and absence of bluish and longitudinal lines in the basal region of the caudal fin of live specimens. This work is the first description of a new species of the ‘G.’ brasiliensis species group from the Doce River basin.
Keywords: Atlantic forest, fish taxonomy, freshwater fish, Geophagini, integrative taxonomy, mitochondrial DNA
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| ‘Geophagus’ pirangaensis, new species from Piranga River, upper Doce basin, Ponte Nova municipality, Minas Gerais, Brazil: top, MZUFV13723, live subadult specimen, 63.61 mm SL, collected by E. Henschel and photographed by C.E. de Assis; bottom, MZUFV14666, live adult specimen, 96.21 mm SL, collected by C.E. de Assis and photographed by E. Henschel. Scale bar: 10 mm. |
‘Geophagus’ pirangaensis sp. n. Assis, Dergam & Henschel
Diagnosis: ‘G.’ pirangaensis possess a unique diagnostic feature within the ‘G.’ brasiliensis group characterized by the presence of clear, rounded spots in the posteriormost dorsal-fin rays of fixed adult specimens (vs. absence, or, when present, spots are elliptical). It also differs from ‘G.’ brasiliensis by having a considerably longer snout (46.22%–52.74% HL vs. 38.36% HL) and terminal mouth (vs. subdorsal); from ‘G.’ diamantinensis by having a taller head (94.08%–101.15% HL vs. 77–86% HL) and terminal mouth (vs. subterminal); from ‘G.’ iporangensis by having a caudal fin with a rounded distal margin (vs. straight distal caudal-fin margin) and 25 or 26 longitudinal scales in the E0 series (vs. 27 or 28); from ‘G.’ itapicuruensis by having a dark and rounded mid-lateral spot of live specimens (vs. dark and vertically elliptical mid-lateral spot) and 14 or 15 spines on the dorsal fin (vs. 13); from ‘G.’ multiocellus by the absence of small bright spots in the central region of the bluish spots on the caudal fin of living specimens (vs. presence) and terminal mouth (vs. subterminal); from ‘G.’ obscurus by having small bluish spots in the opercular region of living specimens (vs. large bluish spots in the opercular region); from ‘G.’ rufomarginatus by the absence of bluish dots on the most anterior soft rays of the anal fin of living specimens (vs. presence), presence of denticles on gill rakers of the first branchial arch (vs. absence) and terminal mouth (vs. subterminal); and from ‘G.’ santosi by the absence of bluish and longitudinal lines in the basal region of the caudal fin of living specimens (vs. presence) and terminal mouth (vs. subterminal).
Cidimar E. de Assis, Jorge A. Dergam, Amanda F. Cunha, Valéria N. Machado, Tomas Hrbek, Natállia M. de F. Vicente, Victor de Queiroz and Elisabeth Henschel. 2026. A New endemic pearl cichlid of the ‘Geophagus’ brasiliensis (Cichliformes: Cichlidae) species group from the Piranga River, upper Doce River Basin, southeastern Brazil. Journal of Fish Biology. DOI: doi.org/10.1111/jfb.70324 [05 January 2026]
