Nothobranchius kadleci Reichard, 2010, new species
Creators: name: Reichard, Martin
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2010
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Actinopterygii
Cyprinodontiformes
Nothobranchiidae
Nothobranchius
Nothobranchius kadleci

description: Nothobranchius kadleci, new species
Figs. 1 & 2, Table 1
Holotype. ZMB 33909, male, 38.1 mm SL, Sofala Province, Mozambique, temporary pool about 100 m from the main EN1 national road, not connected to any permanent river system, 20° 41.3' S, 34° 0 6. 4' E (collection code MZCS 08/91), collected by Martin Reichard, Matej Polačik, Ondřej Sedláček, 18 February 2008.
Paratypes. ZMB 33910, female, 32.2 mm SL; MRAC 2009-12 -P-1, male, 40.2 mm SL; MRAC 2009-12 - P-2, female, 35.8 mm SL; NMP P 6 V 86687, male, 36.1 mm SL; NMP P 6 V 86688, female, 31.0 mm SL. All paratypes share same collection data as holotype.
Non-type material. MZCS-08/99, 3 males and 3 females, Pungwe River Basin, Sofala Province, Mozambique, 19° 17.4' S, 34° 13.8' E; MZCS-08/107, 5 males, border of Save and Gorongose River Basins, Sofala Province, Mozambique, 21° 00.9' S, 34° 27.8' E.
Diagnosis. Nothobranchius kadleci is distinguished from N. furzeri by the smaller depth of the dorsal fin (17.9–31.0 % SL vs. 27.4–37.7 % SL in N. furzeri in males, 14.9–17.6 % SL vs. 19.0–21.9 % SL in females) and smaller depth of the anal fin (17.4–25.8 % SL vs. 22.4–32.4 % SL in N. furzeri in males, 17.3–19.2 % SL vs. 19.3–24.5 % SL in females), larger preanal distance (64.0–65.8 % SL vs. 58.9–61.3 % SL in N. furzeri) in females and presence of red colour on gill membrane and lips and red pectoral fins (N. furzeri does not possess red colour on gill membrane and lips and typically have yellow pectoral fins), absence of black marginal band on caudal fin (present in some male N. furzeri), and a higher amount of red on caudal and dorsal fins and on body in males.
It is distinguished from sympatric N. orthonotus (including putative N. kuhntae and N. mayeri) by the shape of the frontal region (convex in N. kadleci, flat in N. orthonotus), the presence of red pectoral fins with white margins, often with a bluish tint (N. orthonotus possess transparent or whitish pectoral fins with red margins), red background colour on the head covered with small to large light blue marking (N. orthonotus possess red spots on white to grey background colour of the head and, in most populations, also on anterior ventral part of the body), shorter preanal distance (range 58.4–61.2 % SL vs. 62.7–72.5 % SL in N. orthonotus), and distance between pelvic and anal fins (10.2–13.5 % SL vs. 13.4–16.6 % SL) in males.
Nothobranchius kadleci differs from sympatric N. rachovii in males by a lack of black margin of the caudal fin, distance between pectoral and pelvic fins (15.1–21.7 % SL vs. 12.8–16.7 % SL in N. rachovii), minimal body depth (15.0–16.9 % SL vs. 13.5–15.4 % SL) and eye diameter (22.1–27.3 % HL vs. 26.0–32.6 % HL) and in females by preanal distance (64.0–65.8 % SL vs. 61.8–64.5 % SL), length of caudal peduncle (20.1–21.6 % SL vs. 13.4–20.1 % SL), depth of dorsal fin (14.9–17.6 % SL vs. 16.8–23.2 % SL), and depth of anal fin (17.3–19.2 % SL vs. 21.0–23.2 % SL).
Description. Morphology and general body shape similar to N. furzeri (Figs. 1 & 2, Table 1). A robust Nothobranchius species with a characteristic convex frontal region, in mature males sometimes exaggerated into a distinctive frontal hump. The dorsal fin 13–14 rays, anal fin 13–14 rays (up to 16 in females), pelvic fin 6 rays and pectoral fin 16–18 rays. In males, pectoral fins typically overlap with pelvic fins (50 % of the pectoral fin is beyond the anterior margin of pelvic fin). Pelvic fins reach or slightly overlap the base of the anal fin. The longest rays of dorsal and anal fins reach or extend beyond the anterior margin of the caudal fin. In females, the longest rays of the pelvic fin just reach the anal fin base. About 30 % of the pectoral fin extends beyond the base of the pelvic fin. The tip of female anal fin does not reach the caudal fin, but the dorsal fin sometimes reaches the caudal fin. The longitudinal series possesses 27–29 scales; one large male (50.2 mm SL) with 34 scales in the longitudinal series was recorded.
Live colouration. Males. Colouration varies from deep red to light blue and appears to be continuous rather than falling into two discrete colour forms (Figs. 2 & 3). Fully red males have an entirely red caudal fin. The dorsal fin is red with a narrow white margin and white (over the entire fin) or yellow (in the anterior 1/3 of the fin) irregular dots and lines on the fin membrane. The anal fin is red with a narrow white margin and white dots or lines, though white marking is less developed than in the dorsal fin. Pectoral fins are red with white or light blue tips. Ventral fins are red, sometimes with traces of white marking. The body is red, including the head, lips and gill membrane. Scales have large light blue centres, giving an impression of a reticulated pattern on the entire body. In blue males, the base colour of the fins is also red, but light blue (or sometimes whitish) dots and lines are abundant on all fins except for the pectoral fins (which are always red in wild, sexually mature males, though red colour may be less developed in subadult males). In blue males, especially subadult specimens, light blue marking on the body covers a large extent of the red, including a large area of the head. The eyes of all males are orange to gold with a dark vertical band.
Females. All fins are transparent. A slight yellowish tint may be present on the distal part of the dorsal and anal fins. The body is light yellow to light brown, with the posterior part of scales shining an iridescent light blue. Sometimes (<10 % of specimens), small black dots appear on the body. The eye is orange to gold, with a black vertical band.
Colouration in preservative. After one year of preservation in 4 % formaldehyde solution, male colouration was yellow to light brown (similar to live colouration of females), and the pelvic part whitish (Fig. 1A). Black marking is present on the opercular region, gill membrane and distal part of dorsal fin of some individuals (including the holotype). Small black dots are present on the caudal and dorsal fins. The anal, pelvic and pectoral fins are orange. Female body colouration is identical and fins are transparent. Rarely, the black dots are visible.
Males Females
Distribution. This new species was found in 12 populations from a relatively large area in central Mozambique, north of the Save River, including the basin of the Save, Gorongose, Pungwe and Zangue Rivers (Fig. 4, Table 2). The altitude of collections sites ranged from 24–82 m above sea level. The latitudinal extent of the range of N. kadleci is over 300 km primarily along the north-south axis.
Habitats. All populations of N. kadleci were found in small temporary pools varying from 3.5– 2150 m 2, with a maximum depth of 10–70 cm in 2008 and 50 –100 cm in 2009, very turbid water and soft muddy bottom (Fig. 5, Table 2). Littoral vegetation was present in 50 % of the pools, with scarce Nymphaea sp. vegetation in two pools. Conductivity ranged from 68–300 ΜS.cm-2 and water temperature during collection was 27.7–38.2 °C. Sympatric fish species included N. orthonotus (10 cases), N. rachovii (2 cases), an unidentified small Barbus sp. (2 cases), Tilapia sp. (1 case), Protopterus sp. (1 case) and Clarias gariepinus (1 case).
Etymology. The species is named in honour of the late Jaroslav Kadlec (1951–2006) from Brno, Czech Republic, a renowned killifish breeder recognized worldwide for his articles on killifish breeding, ecology, and his photographs. To be pronounced “khadlatsi”.
Latitude Longitude Altitude Conductivity Temperature Max. depth Sympatric species
(masl) (ΜS. cm -2) (°C) (cm)
MZCS 08/91* 20° 41.3' S 34° 06.4' E 62 300 38.2 10
MZCS 08/92 19 ° 19.6' S 34° 18.5' E 24 173 33.5 50
The external morphology of Nothobranchius kadleci is similar to that of N. furzeri, but the two species clearly differ in their colouration (Figs. 2 & 3) and have apparently allopatric distribution. Many Nothobranchius species, including N. furzeri, occur in two distinct colour morphs. In other Nothobranchius species, more continuous colour variation is found (Wildekamp 2004). This appears to be the case in N. kadleci, with a continuous variation from fully red males with some light blue markings on body and fins to males with a larger extent of blue on their body and fins. Additionally, the amount of red also appears to increase with the age of the fish. Some female N. kadleci have irregular black dots on their bodies (especially at MZCS-08/107, but also MZCS-08/91) which is characteristic for some populations of N. orthonotus (especially in vicinity of the city of Beira), but lacking in all known N. furzeri populations.
The Save River forms an apparent range boundary between N. kadleci (north of the Save) and N. furzeri (south of the Save). This is confirmed by a thorough sampling effort (Wood 2000; Terzibasi et al. 2008; Reichard et al. 2009). The species status is supported by the analysis of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA markers (Reichard et al., unpublished data), with N. kadleci being a sister species of N. furzeri.
Two populations of Nothobranchius kadleci were imported and are bred in the aquarium facilities of the Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, and distributed among dedicated killifish breeders under the names Nothobranchius sp. aff. furzeri MZCS-08/91 Gorongose and Nothobranchius sp. aff. furzeri MZCS-08/108 Save. It should be noted that the fish described here as N. kadleci was collected in central Mozambique in May 1970 on the floodplain of the Pungwe River by D.
Plowes (R. Wildekamp, personal communication) and in 1973 in the vicinity of the town Vila Machado (now Nhamatanda) in the Pungwe River basin by D. G. Donnelly (B. Watters, personal communication). It has never been recollected and it was regarded as a very red colour form of N. orthonotus (known as Nothobranchius sp. Vila Machado) (B. Watters, personal communication). All subsequent collections in the area were performed in April or May after the cessation of the rainy season. In contrast, our sampling was carried out in February (during the rainy season). It is possible that, similar to N. furzeri, N. kadleci is a shortlived species inhabiting shallow pools that desiccate earlier than those inhabited by other Nothobranchius species in the area. Indeed, within the same site N. kadleci were often found in shallower pools, while adjacent (<10 m) deeper pools were inhabited by N. orthonotus and N. rachovii. At other sites, all three species were syntopic at the time of collection. Nothobranchius kadleci has never been recorded in lowland floodplains (such as in the vicinity of Beira).
In conclusion, N. kadleci may be a short-lived rather than rare species and occurs in a range of small temporary pools between the Save and Zambezi River. It is expected that it might play an important role in the comparative research on aging where N. furzeri (from drier regions than N. kadleci) is becoming a model species due to its short lifespan (Valdesalici & Cellerino 2003; Genade et al. 2005; Terzibasi et al. 2007; Terzibasi et al. 2008)
description: Published as part of Reichard, Martin, 2010, Nothobranchius kadleci (Cyprinodontiformes: Nothobranchiidae), a new species of annual killifish from central Mozambique, pp. 49-60 in Zootaxa 2332 on pages 51-59, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.275480