A review of the Malagasy Pachypanchax (Teleostei: Cyprinodontiformes, Aplocheilidae), with descriptions of four new species.

Zootaxa 1366: 1–44. ISSN 1175-5334 (online edition)

Abstract:

The history of the genus Pachypanchax Myers, 1933 in the literature is reviewed and the utility of
the diagnostic characters proposed by various authors is evaluated. On the basis of five
synapomorphies, four skeletal and one squamational, six of the seven presently known Malagasy
aplocheilids are found to be unambiguously referable to the genus Pachypanchax. The seventh,
Poecilia nuchimaculata Guichenot 1866, known only from the unique type specimen, displays
several peculiar skeletal and squamational features. Pending the acquisition of additional material,
it is tentatively assigned to the genus. Of the six species treated here, Pachypanchax omalonotus
(Duméril, 1861) and P. sakaramyi (Holly, 1828) are redescribed from recently collected topotypical
material; and the following four are described as new: P. varatraza., P. patriciae, P. sparksorum,
and P. arnoulti. Data on life colors, distribution, natural history and conservation status on all six
Malagasy Pachypanchax species are presented.

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