Re: A. sp. Rotkeil & A. sp. Miua

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

Dan Gottsegen wrote:

> I have been following this thread with great interest, especially since
> I had a pair of A. sp. rotkeil breed several weeks ago ( I had posted
> here about the male having been trashed by the female... fry are doing
> well still, knock wood). My reading that they were the same as the
> A.uaupesi thus confirmed. Thanks, Mike.

You're welcome. Always here to help.

> Indeed the last description of
> A. miua was a delight for a newcomer like me. I enjoyed reading it with
> the Aqualog book in hand (w/ only some success because some of the
> species you referred to are not contained therein).

I'm afraid that no book has all the species. Right now I have received photos of
many unique species of apisto that are not yet published and new species are
being discovered every day.

> I have two
> questions, if anyone can bear dealing with my being such a neophyte.
> First, have there been photographic supplements to the Aqualog book, and
> if so, how does one get them? I find it a useful atlas.

Yes, SAII is a very good picture reference, although some species are
misidentified (same for every other book that I've seen). I believe that there
are now 3 suppliments to this volume. Any place that sells the Aqualog books
should be able to supply the suppliments and the dwarf cichlid posters, too. I
know that the ASG sells them.

> Second, in
> species naming, what do sp. and cf. refer to? I have inferred that sp.
> refers to species that have not been taxonomically classified and thus
> are given a "decriptive" or geographical source name for the time being.
> Is this correct?

Yes, you're right. "sp." is used to indicate that a species has not been
scientifically described.

> Does cf. refer to something like" complex-form"
> meaning that the species is similar to others in the complex group? I am
> sorry if these taxonomic questions are too basic, and would be happy for
> a reference in which I could read up on it. I do have Linke and Staeck.

"cf." is Latin for "confer", meaning "compares with". For example, A. cf.
agassizii [Madeira] is a species from around Porto Vehlo, Brazil. In most
respects it "compares with" the holotype quite well. There are certain features,
however, that indicate that it might only be a sibling species closely related to
A. agassizii. A half century ago, this form might have been considered a
subspecies of A. agassizii, but modern taxonomy doesn't like the "subspecies"
idea anymore. Since we don't know at this time if this is a separate species or
just a slightly abberent population of A. agassizii, we list it as A. cf.
agassizii.

Mike Wise

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