Bellstedt, Dirk U., Nagy, Béla, Merwe, P. De Wet Van Der, Cotterill,
Fenton P. D., Luke, Quentin & Watters, Brian R., 2025, The description
of a critically endangered new species of seasonal killifish,
Nothobranchius sylvaticus (Cyprinodontiformes: Nothobranchiidae),
a relict species from an East African forest refugium in south-eastern
Kenya, Zootaxa 5601 (1), pp. 86-108 : 97-102
Abstract
A new species, Nothobranchius sylvaticus sp. nov. is described from
ephemeral swamps in open areas of the Gongoni Forest in the
seasonal Mkurumudzi system in south-eastern coastal Kenya. The
species occupies a unique ecological niche as it inhabits small
seasonal wetland habitats situated in a relict forest ecosystem.
Nothobranchius sylvaticus sp. nov. is distinguished from all other
members of the genus by: iridescent light blue scales on its trunk
extending to cover the entire caudal peduncle; dorsal portion of head
grey with distinct red lobes along the supraorbital canal; posterior
scale margins on the postorbital portion of the opercle creating two
pronounced brown-red oblique bars; dorsal and anal fins golden,
marked with dark grey dots and stripes proximally and medially,
merging into a uniform dark grey zone distally; caudal fin dark red to
red proximally, plain red medially and with a slender black distal
band. Phylogenetic analysis of sequences of the mitochondrial ND2
and COI, and the nuclear Glyt, MyH6 and SNX33 genes, retrieve the
new species as a phylogenetically distinct lineage, in the so-called
Coastal Inland clade sister to subgenus Aphyobranchius Wildekamp,
1977 and subgenus Adiniops Myers, 1924.
Increasing impacts on land and water resources will continue to
cause habitat degradation in the remnant forest ecosystem, exposing
the ecologically vulnerable population of this newly described
species to severe threats. Such changes may prevent the species
from completing all stages of its annual life cycle in its ephemeral
aquatic habitats, because these killifishes depend on a clay-rich
substratum for embryonic development of the buried eggs through
the dry season. This new species qualifies for a conservation status
of Critically Endangered.
Copyright © 2025 the Author(s). Published in Zootaxa journal.