Expect the unexpected: a new species of killifish from a highly stochastic temporary wetland near Iguazú Falls (Cyprinodontiformes: Rivulidae)
Abstract
We describe Argolebias adrianae, a new species of killifish from a small temporary wetland in the Paraná Forest ecoregion with no regular or predictable temporal pattern of water availability. This habitat is in the Lower Iguazú River Basin, known for its high fish endemism, but until now, only two species of Rivulidae were reported from it, but from the Araucarian Forest ecoregion. The genus Argolebias was previously only known from the lower portions of the Paraguay, Paraná, and Uruguay basins and middle Paraná. The new species is distinguished from all congeners by its unique coloration, which includes a conspicuously dark grey anterior third portion of the dorsal fin and the absence of iridescent spots on the basal half of the pectoral fin in live adult males, as well as dark grey spots on the anterocentral portion of the flanks of females. Our phylogenetic analysis shows A. adrianae to be closely related to Argolebias guarani from the adjacent Middle Paraná basin. We also provide data on the ecology, ontogeny of coloration, and chorion ornamentation of this species. Our findings have important implications for understanding the biogeography, ecology, and evolution of mechanisms that enable organisms to thrive in highly stochastic environments like this one.
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Published In
Canadian Journal of Zoology
Volume 102 • Number 3 • March 2024
Pages: 298 - 314
History
Received: 14 July 2023
Accepted: 21 October 2023
Version of record online: 1 March 2024
Copyright
© 2024 The Author(s). Permission for reuse (free in most cases) can be obtained from copyright.com.
Data Availability Statement
Data generated or analyzed during this study are provided in full within the published article and its Supplementary material.
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Author Contributions
Conceptualization: FA, GET, PC, WSSA
Data curation: FA, GET, PC, WSSA, MMM, PG, JC
Formal analysis: FA, GET, PC, WSSA, MMM
Funding acquisition: FA, GET, JC
Investigation: FA, GET, PC, WSSA, MMM, IDG, JAB, LC, PG
Methodology: FA, GET, PC, WSSA, MMM, IDG, JAB
Project administration: FA, GET, JC
Resources: FA, GET, PC, MMM, IDG, LC, JC
Software: FA, GET
Supervision: FA, GET, PC, JC
Validation: FA, GET, PC, WSSA
Visualization: FA, GET, PC
Writing – original draft: FA, PC
Writing – review & editing: FA, GET, PC, WSSA, MMM, IDG, JAB, PG, JC
Competing Interests
The authors declare there are no competing interests.
Funding Information
Agencia Nacional de Promoción de la Investigación, el Desarrollo Tecnológico y la Innovación: PICT2019- 2019- 01298
PICT2019-2019-01298 granted to FA and PICT2019-01008 to GET by Agencia Nacional de Promoción de la Investigación, el Desarrollo Tecnológico y la Innovación.
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Felipe Alonso, Guillermo Enrique Terán, Pablo Calviño, Wilson Sebastián Serra Alanís, Martin Miguel Montes, Ignacio Daniel García, Jorge Adrián Barneche, Liliana Ciotek, Pablo Giorgis, and Jorge Casciotta. 2024. Expect the unexpected: a new species of killifish from a highly stochastic temporary wetland near Iguazú Falls (Cyprinodontiformes: Rivulidae). Canadian Journal of Zoology.
102(3): 298-314. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjz-2023-0132
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