A critical revision of the churchill snoutfish, genus Petrocephalus Marcusen, 1854 (Actinopterygii: Teleostei: Mormyridae), from southern and eastern Africa, with the recognition of Petrocephalus tanensis, and the description of five new species

Abstract

We morphologically and genetically studied the southern African electric fish Petrocephalus catostoma, or churchill, and its six nominal species, five of which by synonymization (three valid subspecies). We reinstate the synonymized species, and recognize Petrocephalus tanensis (Whitehead and Greenwood, 1959) from the Tana River in Kenya, also using electric organ discharges. The Okavango delta (Botswana) is inhabited by Petrocephalus okavangensis sp. nov. and Petrocephalus magnitrunci sp. nov., and the Namibian Cunene River by Petrocephalus magnoculis sp. nov. We recognize Petrocephalus petersi sp. nov. for the Lower Zambezi River (Mozambique), and Petrocephalus longicapitis sp. nov. for the Upper Zambezi River (Namibia). The Lufubu River in Northern Zambia is inhabited by Petrocephalus longianalis sp. nov. For the southern churchill, Petrocephalus wesselsi Kramer and Van der Bank, 2000, we confirm intraspecific and interspecific differentiation. Sequence data from mitochondrial DNA confirm differentiation of two new western and two eastern species, forming mutual sister groups.

Keywords:

• systematics
• morphometrics
• electric organ discharges
• molecular genetics
• allopatric speciation

Acknowledgments

We thank the editor, Dr Louise Allcock, an anonymous referee, and Dr J. P. Sullivan for their constructive comments that have greatly improved the manuscript. For making us aware of P. squalostoma and helpful critical comments, as well as exchanging manuscripts before publication, we thank Dr S. Lavoué. For museum collection support with type and other material, we thank the following individuals and institutions: BMNH, Mr J. Maclaine; NMW, Mr H. Wellendorf; SMF, Dr F. Krupp; MRAC, Dr J. Snoeks; ZSM, Dr F. Glaw; SAIAB, Mrs S. Terry and Mr V. Mthombeni; NMK, the late Dr L. De Vos. For taking anatomical measurements, we are grateful to Ellen Fröhlich, Kathrin Kahler, Peter Machnik, Birgit Blaul, Sabine Hartl, Henriette Seichert, Lena Dietz, Andreas Lechner. For photographic support we thank Stefan Buchhauser and for field support to B.K. we thank H. Van der Bank, J. Engelbrecht, W. Vlok, L. De Vos (deceased), E. Swartz, L. da Costa and A. Hoffman. R. Bills was supported by the Sociedade para a Gestão e Desenvolvimento da Reserva do Niassa, Moçambique (S.R.N.), Conservation International in Botswana and the All Catfish Species Inventory (NSF programme) in Zambia. Research and logistical support was provided by many people, in particular in Mozambique Michelle Souto, Baldeu Chande and Joao Manuel (WWF), in Botswana by Shaft Nengu (Botswanan Fisheries), in Zambia Alex Chilala (Zambian Fisheries) and John Friel (Cornell University) and in SAIAB by Sally Terry. We thank Hedi Sauer-Gürth (IPMB, Heidelberg) for technical assistance in DNA analysis. This work was supported by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) Kr 446/10–12.