Re: A.maciliensis

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

Vern,

You're right, Dr. Römer does show A. sp. Mamoré as a synonym for A. maciliensis
I wrote to Uwe about this. He replied:

"What was very interesting was your opinion on species like A. juruensis
etc. I had quite good reasons to name the Marmoré-Apistogramma as A.
maciliensis. And also why I took A. sp. Erdfresser as A. pulchra after
comparing fresh material with the types. In the case of A. juruensis and
A. sp. aff. juruensis I am open to any discussion, as there seems to be
a bigger number of intermediate forms between all fish shown under this
name until now."

Now for some other opinions.

Lacerda collected fish more comparable to A. trifasciata maciliensis (sensu
Haseman) from around the type locality, on the middle Rio Guaporé. It looks very
similar to A. trifasciata. Its differences are minor but noticeable. Lacerda's
fish all show a yellow wash above the lateral band. Sorry, Marco, I don't
consider life colors to be very important in IDing apistos - useful, yes, but not
diagnostic. The fish Marco sent me, however, do have a broader lateral band than
A. trifasciata and the lateral spot (visible on both sexes) extends outside the
boundary of the lateral band. In A. trifasciata the same spot (on both sexes) is
no wider than the lateral band. The same lateral spot on male A. sp. Mamoré is
replaced by a metallic halo effect. The diagonal band, seen on A. trifasciata but
not A. sp. Mamoré, is always present on my male but was thin, irregular, and
broken when he was young. The female's diagonal is still thin & irregular, but
mostly complete. This follows Haseman's description closely (seen only on large
specimens). Another point is that neither Haseman (for A. t. maciliensis) nor
Meinken (for A. t. harald schultzi) make any mention of the very prominent
metallic red spot visible below the operculum on A. sp. Mamoré. I find it hard to
believe that both would miss this feature if it were on their fish. If my memory
doesn't fail me, Marco sent some preserved specimens of his Guaporé fish to
Kullander who stated that they are the same as Haseman's fish. Marco, please
correct me if I'm wrong.

I have the utmost respect of the enthusiasm and diligent work Dr. Römer has done
on apistos, but I am inclined to believe he is wrong on this matter. (I'm
entitled to an opinion just like you and everyone else.) I have two articles that
will be out soon in the Apisto-Gram that expand on this. One is a review of his
new book, and his entire response. The other is a description of the
trifasciata-group and the species within it. Look there for more information.

Mike Wise

Vern Wensley wrote:

> I am looking at my copy of Romers book and he is calling what I thought was
> A.spec.rio mamore  A.maciliensis.Are they the same fish?In Mayland,Bork book
> I was under the impression that they were wrong in there identification of
> A.maciliensis.
> The pictures in Romers book look just like my rio mamore,except the caudal
> fin is more orange in my fish.Did somthing happen when I wasnt paying
> attention?
> I havent got my English translation yet,so its slow going reading the text.
> zwergs regel
> Vern
>
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