new species:
Cyanocharax macropinna Malabarba & Weitzman, 2003
type locality:
Brazil, Rio Grande do Sul, Quaraí, arroio Pai-Passo, on road Santana do Livramento – Alegrete (RS 183); Holotype MCP 25973
distribution in Argentina:
Province of Misiones, Arroyo Santa Maria, 8 km from Santa Maria, between Santa Maria and Itacaruare, Río Uruguay basin; Paratypes MCP 13350
published in:
Malabarba, L.R. & .H. Weitzman (2003):
Description of a new genus with six new species from southern Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina, with a discussion of a putative characid clade (Teleostei: Characiformes: Characidae).
Comunicacoes do Museo de Ciencias de PUCRS – Serie zoologica 16 (1): 67-151
abstract (from publication):
Cyanocharax, new genus, is described with six new species, known only from the Atlantic coastal drainages of Southern Brazil, in the states of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, and from the rio Uruguay drainage in Southern Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina. Cyanocharax is hypothesized to belong to a monophyletic group of characid fishes that share the derived possession of a dorsal fin with two unbranched and eight branched rays whereas other characids have two unbranched and nine branched rays or in a few derived cases a higher number of rays. This putative clade is also defined by the presence of four teeth in the inner series of the premaxilla and in addition to glandolocaudines includes most of the characid species with ventral mouths. The distribution of bony hooks on the fins of Characiformes is also evaluated and is hypothesized to be a putative synapomorphy for a monophyletic clade including Gasteropelecidae, and most of the species currently placed in Characidae. Species of the new genus include Cyanocharax alburnus new combination, C. itaimbe new species, from rio Mampituba, rio Tramandaí and rio Araranguá dranages, C. dicropotamicus new species and C. tipiaia new species from rio Jacuí drainage, C. lepiclastus new species, C. alegretensis new species and C. macropinna new species from rio Uruguay drainage.