Re: Gender of Apistogramma

[Erik Olson <eriko@wrq.com>]

On Thu, 25 Sep 1997 Fredrik.Ljungberg@saab.se wrote:

> Two articles were recently published in a Swedish Cichlid
> magazine where the gender of Apistogramma had been changed
> to neuter (instead of feminine which it has been considered
> to be). Does anyone know who decided on this and what reasons
> there is to change ?
> 
> Some books do state that the gender of Apistogramma is uncertain
> since Regan didn't state the exact meaning of the name
> (Schmettkamp 1982, Koslowski 1985) and that with Apistogramma =
> broken line (or something like that, can't remember exactly)
> would mean that the gender is feminine.
> > 
> PS The articles were translated from american publications (BB
> and from a local society-mag). Authors were Uwe Romer and Kathy
> Olsen, respectively. DS

I spoke with Mike Wise about this last year.  It turns out there is great
debate on this topic, some questioning the intention of the original
naming and wheter it is neuter or feminine and how it is with other
species of cichlids and the origin of their names.  I would recommend
contacting Mike.  He is is Denver, Colorado and is quite involved in
phylogeny (sp?) studies.  He is also mapping out the origin of each
species, and areas in which no Apisto's have been found yet, and
evolutionary theories.  I have his address packed up somewhere I will try
to find it.  As for my article, originally I put a little about the origin
of the name, but that is not the version that got printed.  So, they may
have misinterpreted the title which is a pun.

Would love to get a copy of the Swedish article if you have access.

Kathy Olson 
306 NW 82nd St 
Seattle WA 98117
U.S.A.

Thanks!
Kathy

(on Erik's email)