Re: List of Apistos

[Mike & Diane Wise <apistowise@bewellnet.com>]

Ken,

No, they are not. A. sp. Mamoré is a separate, but scientifically undescribed, species. All 3
members of the trifasciata-group (A. trifasciata, A. maciliensis, & A. sp. Mamoré) can be
found in the Rio Mamoré/Guaporé drainage, but so far are not known to be sympatric (found
together). This shouldn't be too surprising if, as I suspect, the trifasciata-group is an
offshoot of the cacatuoides-complex of the cacatuoides-group. There are cacatuoides-complex
fish (A. luelingi, A. sp. Guaporé, and A. staecki) found in the lower Rio Guaporé drainage.

The true A. trifasciata is found in the upper reaches of the Rio Guaporé close to streams
entering the Rio Paraguay drainage. Apparently A. trifasciata entered the the Rio Paraguay
system via stream piracy or through the Pantanal swamps during periods of high water. A.
trifasciata can be ID'd from other members of the trifasciata-group by the highly visible
diagonal band between the pectoral fin insertion and the anus. It can have either a clear
tail or a series of pale, fine spots on the caudal fin.

A. maciliensis occurs in the middle reaches of the Rio Guaporé above the mouth of the Rio
Mamoré. It can be ID'd by having either a pale & irregular, or no diagonal band and a broad
yellow area (band) above the dark lateral band. Its tail fin is supposed to be unspotted.

A. sp. Mamoré comes from the Rio Mamoré. It is distinguished from the others by having a much
broader lateral band that frequently is missing on the anterior (front) part of the body. The
diagonal band is always missing in this species. On most species there is also a metallic red
spot located just behind the opercular (gill plate) opening in front of the pelvic fin
insertion. The fish called A. trifasciata maciliensis in the Mayland & Bork book is actually
A. sp. Mamoré. commonly the tail is finely spotted.

If anyone has any other ways to ID these 3 species, or if I'm in anyway wrong, I'd really
like to hear from you.

Mike Wise

Ken Laidlaw wrote:

> Mike,
> Thanks for the info, very interesting.
>
> On the maciliensis, is this the same as A. sp mamore?  I
> think I read somewhere on the list before that they were
> one and the same.
>
> Regards,
> Ken.
>
> > Yes, I use Dr. Kullander's list for the most part. Since his list is usually a bit
> > dated, I add to it. For example, the last time I checked he still had A. maciliensis as
> > a part of A. trifasciata. He now considers it a separate species,
>
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