THE NOTHOBRANCHIUS SITE

ZSM 34483, holotype, male, 41.3 mm SL; Mozambique: Cabo Delgado: about 5 km north of Nassoro village, temporary pools, not connected to any permanent river system, 10°53.222' S, 40°22.094' E; H. Hengstler & S. Vendo, 18 May 2005 [field code: Nassoro MZHL 2005-14].

ZSM 34484 (1), 34485 (1), 34486 (1)

Nothobranchius hengstleri is distinguished from N. melanospilus and N. makondorum in having a deeper red coloration over the entire body and head, a spotted anal fin (well defined brown spots over entire fin vs. few spots limited at base), a different caudal-fin pattern (deep red, with a well defined complete black margin vs. red, without any particular marking or with thin rudimentary black margin sometimes reduced on upper and lower angle), and a different caudal fin shape (perfectly rounded vs. rounded to subtruncate) (after Valdesalici, 2007).

Subgenus: Adiniops

Species group: N. melanospilus group

Nothobranchius hengstleri was established as a species by Valdesalici in 2007, and that status has been accorded by all authors since.

Mozambique: Cabo Delgado: about 5 km north of Nassoro village, temporary pools, not connected to any permanent river system, 10°53.222' S, 40°22.094' E.

This species is endemic to seasonal freshwater habitats in north-eastern Mozambique. It is known from the type locality, an ephemeral pool in a small coastal plateau, and seasonal wetland habitats in the adjacent Afungi peninsula in Cabo Delgado province in north-eastern Mozambique.

Coastal East Africa (564)

6–72 m

Water parameters at type locality (Valdesalici, 2007):

pH: 7.5

None

This species has an annual life cycle.

Embryonic development under captive conditions in peat moss is about three to four months at room temperature.

Maximum size reported: 41.3 mm SL (ZSM 34483, holotype, male)

Diploid chromosome number 2n = 38 (Wildekamp et al., 2009); NF = 42, karyotype structure 2m+2sm+34st/a (Krysanov & Demidova, 2018).

Karyotype structure unique in the genus.

The specific name is given in honour of the discoverer of the species, Holger Hengstler from Munich, Germany.

Endangered B1ab(iii)+2ab(iii) (Nagy & Watters, 2019)

    Valdesalici, S. 2007. A new species of the genus Nothobranchius (Cyprinodontiformes: Nothobranchiidae) from the coastal area of northeastern Mozambique. Zootaxa 1587: 61–68. [taxonomy as Nothobranchius hengstleri]

​    Wildekamp, R. H., K. M. Shidlovskiy & B. R. Watters. 2009. Systematics of the Nothobranchius melanospilus species group (Cyprinodontiformes: Nothobranchiidae) with description of two new species from Tanzania and Mozambique. Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters, 20 (3): 237–254. [phylogeny]

    Nagy, B. & B. Watters. 2019. Nothobranchius hengstleri. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2019: e.T53888132A58340334. [conservation]