Re: A. sp Erdfesser

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

Jason,

I'll just add a little to Marco's expert report. A. sp. Erdfresser (Earth-eater)
is known commercially in North America (when available) by Marco's trade name A.
sp. Lyretail Purus and in the Far East as A. sp. Rondonia. All things considered,
Marco's name is the most descriptive. Yes, all the care & breeding information
(what little there is of it) in the Mayland & Bork book under A. pulchra applies
to A. sp. Lyretail Purus.

I tentatively consider it  a member of the pertensis-group (slender body, sailfin
in males, little sexual dimorphism, unpigmented anterior dorsal spines, and no
scales on the breast area). It is also probably assignable to the
pertensis-complex/sub-group (1st 3 dorsal spines separate from sailfin, lateral
band ending in front of a caudal peduncle spot). I only tentatively put it in
this group & complex because it has several features that are anomalous to them.
A. sp. Lyretail Purus is the only species in the pertensis-group that has a
darkened anterior dorsal fin and a completely scaled breast area. In addition it
is the only pertensis-complex species with a lyretail. In many respects it
reminds me of species in the steindachneri-group, especially the narrow lateral
band and prominent caudal spot. The dark front edges of the flank scales make it
look like it has chevron like vertical bars, typical in steindachneri-group
species. These are probably the reasons Heiko Bleher mistakenly ID'd it at the
Chicago ACA convention as A. steindachneri. It, however, doesn't have the
enlarged flank patch that's diagnostic of steindachneri-group species.

For Marco's edification, I'll translate what Dr. Kullander wrote about A. sp.
Lyretail Purus in his description of A. hippolytae:

"An additional specimen of an Apistogramma species was found together with the
type series of A. hippolytae (Fig. 3). It is a male about 37.0 mm SL and belongs
to an undescribed species of uncertain relationship. Superficially it is similar
to A. pertensis yet is very different in having a dark anterior dorsal fin and an
entirely scaled breast. The preoperculum is serrated. The caudal fin is squared
off with obvious dorsal and ventral extensions. The coloration is fairly
different from that of A. hippolytae particularly, for example, with regards to
the [lack of a] flank patch."

Since the holotype & part of the paratypes come from an igarapé of the Lago
Manacapuru and the remainder of the paratypes come from the middle Rio Negro (Rio
Urubaxi & Rio Daraá), we can extend the distribution of A. sp. Lyretail Purus to
the left (north) bank of the Amazon. It may also occur with A. hippolytae in the
Rio Tefé, but no one has reported this yet.

Mike Wise


Mayalauren@aol.com wrote:

> Hi everyone,
> Can anyone give me some info on this fish...all I know is that this is the
> fish pictured as A. pulchra in the Bork & Mayland book. Does the text also
> refer to this fish (i believe so???)
> Thanks,
> Jason
>
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