A HISTORICAL REVIEW OF THE TAXONOMY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY OF FRESHWATER FISHES IN SOUTH AFRICA—THE PAST 50 YEARS

SUMMARY

The history of systematic freshwater ichthyology in South Africa is traced from its origins to the present but focussing on the past 50 years. In the 19th century freshwater fishes were described by European scientists and explorers. The first South African collections began around the turn of the 20th century with that in the South African Museum becoming the dominant collection over the next 50 years through the input and research of initially Dr John Gilchrist and later Dr Keppel Barnard. A fundamental shift in locus from Cape Town to Grahamstown occurred in the 1950s when Rex Jubb began to work at the Department of Ichthyology at Rhodes University, and, from 1961 at the Albany Museum. Freshwater fish taxonomy subsequently resumed at the J.L.B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology, Grahamstown. The first half of the past 50 years was also marked by the contributions of nature conservation and colonial fishery agents. From 1970 a new generation of trained ichthyologists, locally and abroad, assumed responsibility and undertook mostly revisions of species and genera. The impact of cladist philosophy is most evident in the generic changes that have occurred during this latter time period. The alpha-taxonomy of the southern African freshwater fish fauna is about 90% complete. Modern focus is moving towards biophysiological, biochemical, molecular and cytogenetic studies.

Traditionally the geographical derivation of southern African freshwater fishes was explained within the framework of a dispersalist paradigm. Alternative views arguing that there am two distinct historical faunas in southern Africa, a temperate and a tropical fauna, have more recently been presented. The available evidence indicates that both these faunas have co-evolved largely in situ throughout the Tertiary. The patterns of species distributions that now exist are the product of a complex and dynamic process of drainage evolution.