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The fish collected by the French colonial administrator A. Baudon at the end of the 1920s. These fish were examined by Pellegrin and led to the discovery of a large number of species. Some of these are now considered to be separate species, but at that time they were grouped together. For example, A. ogoense (1930) and A. louessense (1931) were described as varieties of A. lujaeDescribed by Radda and Huber, placed as a subspecues by Segers without justification. Referred to PYR by JVCZ in 2018. Here are Huber's comments from Killi Data:
From Huber 1981:
3. Aphyosemion pyrophore HUBER & RADDA, 1979
The third member of this group, Aphyosemion pyrophore, differs from A. ogoense not in its morphology, but in its colour pattern and karyotype (n = 19; A = 32 (SCHEEL, 1981)). The colour pattern consists of three elements: the front half of the body has four longitudinal stripes, the rear half of the body has vertical red bands, and the caudal fin has a flame pattern, with the bands on the edges being placed asymmetrically.
In 1978, A. pyrophore was discovered near Komono (locations JH 164, 165; RPC 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23), and thanks to A. BAUDON's collecting trips mentioned above, its distribution area can be extended considerably further to the north-west. BAUDON's fish were identified by PELLEGRIN as ogoense. We should also include at this point fish No 31-144 from the River Lali, a tributary of the Louessé, and also PÜRZL and HOFMANN's fish (GHP 301, 323, 329).
A. pyrophore is the only component of the ogoense superspecies which exists in both colour phases, blue and yellow, as often happens with A.gardneri and A. cameronense. Moreover both can be found living sympatrically. RADDA (1980) states, without giving reasons for his claim, that pyrophore is only a sub-species of ogoense. This possibility cannot be dismissed out of hand, and will have to be examined more closely, if crossing experiments are undertaken and produce fertile progeny to at least the F3 generation.
Copyright 2024 Richard J. Sexton |