Maylandia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Maylandia
Maylandia lombardoiphoto by Gerard Delany
Maylandia lombardoi
photo by Gerard Delany
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Perciformes
Family: Cichlidae
Genus: Maylandia
Meyer and Foerster, 1984

The genus Maylandia contains around 15 species of cichlid fish endemic to Lake Malawi in Eastern Africa [1]. Like most malawi cichlids, all Maylandia species exhibit brood care via maternal mouthbrooding. Phylogenetically, Maylandia is part of the mbuna flock of haplochromine cichlids [2].

[edit] Maylandia or Metriaclima?

The name Maylandia was proposed as a subgenus of Pseudotropheus in 1984 [3]. If this group of fishes were then given their own genus separate from Pseudotropheus (as more recent consensus demands), Maylandia would then have priority over other genus names for this group [4][5][6]. It is the view of others, however, that the original Maylandia description is scientifically inadequate to define the group, making the name nomen nudem (literally, "meaning nothing") and that Metriaclima should be used for this group of fishes [7][8][9][10].

However, this claim has been refuted by many other fish taxonomists [11][12][13][14][15] and in the aquarium literature [16][17], and as a result the issue remains a point of contention.

[edit] Species

  • Pseudotropheus heteropictus is sometimes included in Maylandia, however, its taxonomic position remains unclear.
Maylandia hayomaylandiphoto by Gerard Delany
Maylandia hayomaylandi
photo by Gerard Delany


[edit] References

  1. ^ Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors.. genus Maylandia. FishBase. Retrieved on 2007-03-02.
  2. ^ Oliver MK.. [http://malawicichlids.com/mw07000.htm Checklist of the Mbuna Species Flock]. Retrieved on 2007-03-02.
  3. ^ Meyer, M.K., and W. Foerster. 1984. Un nouveau Pseudotropheus du lac Malawi avec des remarques sur le complexe Pseudotropheus-Melanochromis (Pisces, Perciformes, Cichlidae). Revue Française d'Aquariologie et de Herpetologie 10:107-112
  4. ^ Condé, B., and J. Géry. 1999. Maylandia Meyer et Foerster, 1984, un nom générique disponible (Teleostei, Perciformes, Cichlidae). [Maylandia Meyer and Foerster, 1984, an available generic name.] Revue Française d'Aquariologie et de Herpetologie 26: 21-22.
  5. ^ Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors.. genus Maylandia. FishBase. Retrieved on 2007-03-02.
  6. ^ Eschmeyer W. N. 2006. Catalog of fishes California Academy of Sciences, USA. online edition
  7. ^ Konings, A. 2001. Malawi Cichlids in their natural habitat. Cichlid Press, USA. 3rd Edn.
  8. ^ Konings A.. Maylandia or Metriaclima, ...again!. Retrieved on 2007-03-02.
  9. ^ Stauffer, J.R., Jr., N.J. Bowers, K.A. Kellogg, and K.R. McKaye. 1997. A revision of the blue-black Pseudotropheus zebra (Teleostei: Cichlidae) complex from Lake Malawi, Africa, with a description of a new genus and ten new species. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 148: 189-230
  10. ^ Konings, A., and J.R. Stauffer, Jr. 2006. Revised diagnosis of Metriaclima (Teleostei: Cichlidae) with description of a new species from Lake Malawi National Park, Africa. Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters 17: 233-246
  11. ^ Kullander S. Editor.. Cichlid L Archives. Museum of Natural History, Sweden. Retrieved on 2007-03-02.
  12. ^ Kullander S. Editor.. Cichlid L Archives. Museum of Natural History, Sweden. Retrieved on 2007-03-02.
  13. ^ Kullander S. Editor.. Cichlid L Archives. Museum of Natural History, Sweden. Retrieved on 2007-03-02.
  14. ^ Oliver MK.. Maylandia, Metriaclima, or Pseudotropheus?. Retrieved on 2007-03-02.
  15. ^ Oliver MK.. Validity and availability of Maylandia — The technical details. Retrieved on 2007-03-02.
  16. ^ Seegers, L. 1998. Von Roloffia roloffi und Maylandia hajomaylandi. DATZ, 51: 812-813
  17. ^ Isbrucker, I. 1998. Maylandia oder Metriaclima? DATZ, 51: 813.
Languages