Cichlid fishes from the La Plata basin. Part I. Collections from Paraguay in the Muséum d'Histoire naturelle de Genève

Cichlid fishes from the La Plata basin. Part I. Collections from Paraguay in the Musum d'Histoire naturelle de Genve. -Five cichlid species are reported from the Paraguay river system, viz. Aequidens vittatus (Heckel), Apistogramma commbrae (Regan), Astronotus ocellatus (Agassiz), Cichlasoma dimerus (Heckel) (new comb.), and Crenicichla lepidota Heckel. Of four species found in the Alto Parana system in Paraguay, viz. Aequidens vittatus, Crenicichla lepidota, C. niederleinii (Holmberg), and Gymnogeophagus cf. australis (Eigenmann), only C. niederleinii is known previously from that region. Tilapia rendalli (Boulenger) is apparently released in the Acaray barrage lake near Pto. Presidente Stroessner, Paraguay. Comparison of Astronotus ocellatus from the Paraguay, Amazonas and Orinoco river basins indicate geographical variation calling for deeper investigation. Gymnogeophagus labiatus (Hensel) is revalidated from the synonymy of Gg. gymnogenys (Hensel). It differs greatly in colour pattern and lip development. Crenicichla niederleinii, not reported since 1891, belongs to the C. lacustris species group, and may be a senior synonym of C. iguassuensis Haseman. COLLECTING SITES What follows is a full listing of the cichlid material collected by the Zoological Expedition of the Musum d'Histoire naturelle de Genve to Paraguay, 1979 (Nos. 1-11), CICHLID FISHES FROM PARAGUAY 677 and C. Dlouhy (Nos. 611, 636, 637), according to locality. The location of the localities, all in the republic of Paraguay, are shown in Fig. 1.