Chromaphyosemion Radda

Rainer Sonnenberg, 2007, Description of three new species of the genus Chromaphyosemion Radda, 1971 (Cyprinodontiformes: Nothobranchiidae) from the coastal plains of Cameroon with a preliminary review of the Chromaphyosemion splendopleure complex., Zootaxa 1591, pp. 1-38 : 34

[[ Genus Chromaphyosemion Radda ]]

Conclusions

In Chromaphyosemion coloration patterns are the most important diagnostic characters for taxonomy. The addition of a phylogeny based on mtDNA data helps to understand the relationships within the genus and to recognize particularly the most closely related species. The restriction of the problematic taxon C. splendopleure to a small monophyletic group of closely related forms together with the easily diagnosable C. poliaki leads to a better understanding of the diversity, taxonomy and biogeography of the genus and will allow further research to concentrate on these problems. The description of diagnosable units as different species combined with the knowledge of their phylogeny is a first step to facilitate the taxonomic treatment of a formerly highly variable 'species' and in general will help to understand the importance and evolution of male color patterns in Chromaphyosemion . The recent taxonomic proposal with regard to C. splendopleure and C. volcanum is not followed here, as it ignores diagnostic coloration features of the involved populations in favor of the results of a mitochondrial analysis. As shown above, the incongruence is most probably caused by a mitochondrial introgression in the involved populations.