A typical coastal plain taxon in central Brazil: Relationships and description of a new species of non-annual killifish (Cyprinodontiformes; Rivulidae) from the Paraná River basin

Abstract

We describe a new species of the genus Atlantirivulus from a small first-order stream on the right margin of the Paraná River basin in the Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. The region of occurrence of the new species is known to be a hotspot for Melanorivulus species. This area, however, is approximately 700 km away from the record of occurrence of its closest congeners, which are distributed along the Brazilian coast in different hydrographic basins. Atlantirivulus enigmaticus, new species, is distinguished from all congeners by it s unique coloration, which consists of the flank being purplish grey with light green iridescence with brownish red dots scattered along of the body, by the neuromasts of the infraorbital series being aligned around eye, and by the presence of the short ventral process of the posttemporal. The phylogenetic position of the new species within the Atlantirivulus genus was based on molecular phylogenetic analysis using sequences of the mitochondrial gene cytochrome oxidase subunit 1. The results show that the new species is closely related to Atlantirivulus luelingi from the coastal drainages of the Brazilian state Santa Catarina. The phylogenetic position of the new species among congeners endemic to coastal river basins may be related to ancestral connections between coastal drainages and the Paraná River basin. The new species constitutes the westernmost record for the genus, and the first record of Atlantirivulus in the Paraná River basin. Insufficient collection efforts in areas of potential occurrence for the group and extinction processes in the broad region between the locality of the new species and the distribution areas of the remaining species may be a possible explanation for this disjunct distribution.