Three new species of Astyanax from drainages of southern Brazil (Characiformes: Characidae)

• Main Authors: Carlos A. S. de Lucena, Jonas Blanco Castro, Vinicius A. Bertaco
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sociedade Brasileira de Ictiologia
• Series: Neotropical Ichthyology
• Subjects: Laguna dos Patos system; Neotropical fish; Rio Grande do Sul; Rio Uruguay; Taxonomy
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1679-62252013000300537&lng=en&tlng=en

Three new species of Astyanax are described from southern Brazil: A. dissensus and A. xiru from the laguna dos Patos system and rio Uruguay basin, the first species also occurring in the rio Tramandaí system, and A. procerus from the laguna dos Patos system. Astyanax procerus and A. xiru possess outer row premaxillary teeth pentacuspid and inner row heptacuspid, maxillary with one tri- to pentacuspid teeth, 18-23 branched anal-fin rays, and two humeral spots. Astyanax procerus has the largest body depth (38.3-46.0% of SL), while A. xiru has the lowest body depth (32.5-37.5% of SL) among the three species. The characters combination can distinguish these species from its congeners. Astyanax dissensus distinguish from Astyanax species by the presence of one developed heptacuspid teeth on maxillary, 22-28 branched anal-fin rays, 35-39 perforated scales along the lateral line, two humeral spots, conspicuous lateral band continuous on middle caudal rays, 6-7 scale row between dorsal-fin origin and lateral line, and head length 22.7-27.3% of SL. All three species has the predorsal region of the body scaled. An identification key to the species of Astyanax species from the rio Uruguay basin, and laguna dos Patos and rio Tramandaí systems is provided.