Herichthys labridens (Pellegrin, 1903)

Mejía, Omar, Pérez-Miranda, Fabián, León-Romero, Yatzil, Soto-Galera, Eduardo & Luna, Efraín de, 2015, Morphometric variation of the Herichthys bartoni (Bean, 1892) species group (Teleostei: Cichlidae): How many species comprise H. labridens (Pellegrin, 1903)?, Neotropical Ichthyology 13 (1), pp. 61-76 : 68-69

Herichthys labridens (Pellegrin, 1903)

Heros labridens Pellegrin, 1903: 122-123 [original description].

Cichlasoma bartoni . -Meek, 1904: 211-212 [description].

Cichlosoma labridens . - Regan, 1905: 443 [citation]. - Miller, 1976: 20 [citation]. -Taylor & Miller, 1983: 1-20 [citation]. - Miller et al., 2005: 401 [catalog].

Herichthys labridens . -León-Romero et al., 2012: 1021-1026 [phylogenetic analysis].- De la Maza-Benignos & Lozano-Vilano, 2013: 103-106 [redescription].

Nosferatu labridens . -De la Maza-Benignos et al., 2014: in press [citation].

Diagnosis. There are no unique autapomorphies that allow us to distinguish Herichthys labridens from the rest of the species of the group. However, this species could be distinguished from the sympatric species H. bartoni by its yellow to golden coloration in life and from the rest of the species of the ensemble by the absence of dots on the head.

Description. Morphometric and meristic data are summarized in Tables 3-4.

Color in life. Body yellow to golden that vanishes to the ventral region, five to six black blotches that extend from the half of the body to the caudal fin, red to purple axil mark present.

Color in alcohol. Body brown to reddish-brown, darker at the base of the dorsal fin. Fins turn to brown or gray, blotches and axil mark could disappear.

Distribution. Laguna de la Media Luna, río Verde and río Calabazas, San Luis Potosí, río Jalpan, and río Conca, Querétaro and río Manzanares, Guanajuato.

Remarks. There is apparent confusion regarding the type locality of this species. According to De la Maza-Benignos & Lozano-Vilano (2013) (but see also Taylor & Miller 1983) and Pellegrin (1903) states that the type locality was “Huazteca Potosina”, Guanajuato. The confusion arises because Prof. Alfredo Dugès shipped the material to Pellegrin from the city of Guanajuato. Nevertheless, there is no reason for confusion - Pellegrin (1903:122) clearly states that the material comes from Huasteca Potosina ( Mexique) (not Huazteca, as suggested by De la Maza-Benignos & Lozano-Vilano 2013); we believe that the suggestion of De la Maza-Benignos & Lozano-Vilano (2013) comes from the information available in the work of Taylor & Miller (1983), and that they not review the original description performed by Pellegrin (1903). In the same manner, De la Maza-Benignos & Lozano-Vilano (2013) wrongly interpret the work of Regan (1905) (and not 1906-1908, as they state) and suggest that Regan includes accounts from three different species. First, Regan (1905) sets the eye diameter at 4-5.5 and the interorbital distance at 3 (both in HL); dorsal fin XV-XVI, 10-12 and anal fin V-VI, 8-9. These values fell within the range observed in this study (eye diameter 3.24-5.21; interorbital distance 2.15-3.46; dorsal fin XIV-XVII, 10-13 and anal fin IV-VI, 8-11), and the eight specimens reviewed by Regan (1905) come from río Verde that includes the native distribution of this species.

Material examined. Mexico: [Laguna de la Media Luna, SLP.] ENCB-P P1891, 5, 87.0- 122.1 mm SL; río Verde, SLP. ENCB-P P3770, 11, 71.4-145.7 mm SL, río Jalpan, Qro. ENCB-P P4866, 6, 64.0- 116.4 mm SL, río Conca, Qro. ENCB-P P5041, 20, 57.6-111.6 mm SL, río Manzanares, Gto. ENCB-P P5061, 18, 64.7-143.8 mm SL, Canal de la Media Luna, SLP. ENCB-P P6011, 3, 70.8-80.1 mm SL, río Verde, SLP. ENCB-P P6012, 2, 92.1-96.5 mm SL, río Calabazas, SLP. ENCB-P P6016, 8, 97.0- 152.1 mm SL.

Table 3. Descriptive statistics for the 18 morphometric data adjusted as proportions of the standard length (SL) and nine morphometric data adjusted as proportions of the head length (HL) used in this study. The mean, minimum, maximum and the standard deviation of the value for each Herichthys species are expressed as percentages.