THE NOTHOBRANCHIUS SITE

MRAC B3-022-P-0229, holotype, male, 18.1 mm SL; DR Congo: Upper Lufira drainage: ephemeral pool in the Tshipokokolo system, about 7 km north of Kyembe village, 11°01'49" S, 27°17'58" E; B. Nagy, A. Chocha Manda & B. Katemo Manda, 8 Apr 2013.

MRAC B3-022-P-0230-6 (7)

​Lacustricola petnehazyi is distinguished from all other Lacustricola  species, with the exception of L. hutereaui, by the combination of following characters in male coloration: dark transverse markings on the median fins; reticulate markings on the side; as well as the structure of the cephalic sensory system in both sexes characterized by a supraorbital canal composed of two short, discontinuous grooves containing exposed neuromasts; postorbital and preopercular sensory systems tubular with pores. Furthermore, L. petnehazyi is distinguished from L. hutereaui by the following unique combination of characters in males: dorsal and anal fins with faint brown stripes perpendicular to fin rays (vs. curved stripes in L. hutereaui); anal fin with a faint brown margin and without a light submarginal band (vs. with dark brown margin and with light submarginal band); caudal fin with irregular vertical markings forming a reticulate pattern (vs. narrow vertical bands); as well as, in both sexes, a preorbital sensory system in shallow channel with three exposed neuromasts (vs. tubular with three pores); mandibular sensory system in open groove with small exposed neuromasts (vs. tubular with pores); smaller body depth at pelvic fin origin 25.3-28.7 % SL (vs. 30.0-32.3); smaller interorbital width 34-40 % HL (vs. 47-51); larger postorbital length 45-46 % HL (vs. 38-43); smaller suborbital depth 11-14 % HL (vs. 21-25); and larger caudal peduncle length 1.4 times of its depth (vs. 1.0-1.1).

Subgenus: Southern African 'Lacustricola'

Species group: 'L.' hutereaui group 

Micropanchax petnehazyi was established as a species by Nagy & Vreven in 2018, and that status has since been accepted by all authors. Based on molecular data, a southern African clade of species was identified as  'Lacustricola' by Bragança & Costa (2019) and Bragança et al. (2020), including the 'L.' hutereaui species group, to which also 'L.' petnehazyi belongs to.

DR Congo: Upper Lufira drainage: ephemeral pool in the Tshipokokolo system, about 7 km north of Kyembe village, 11°01'49" S, 27°17'58" E.

This species is endemic to south-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. It is known from ephemeral pools of the small Tshipokokolo system, which is a right bank affluent in the Upper Lufira drainage in south-eastern DR Congo.

1155 m

Personal observations of water parameters (4 observations):

Water temperature: 24.6–27.5 °C

pH: 6.32–7.18

Total dissolved solids: 100–193 ppm

Not known

Eggs develop in about two weeks at room temperature.

Maximum size reported: 19.1 mm SL (MRAC B3-022-P-0230-6, paratype, female)

Not known

The specific name is given in honour of my friend Gábor Petneházy who accompanied me collecting killifishes during several field trips in Africa, including the one in Democratic Republic of Congo in 2016, and also collected this species at the type locality. A noun in genitive case.

IUCN Red List not evaluated

   Nagy, B. & E. Vreven. 2018. Micropanchax petnehazyi, a new species of lampeye cyprinodontiform from the Lufira drainage, Democratic Republic of Congo (Cyprinodontiformes: Poeciliidae). Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters, 28 (2): 157–169. [taxonomy as Micropanchax petnehazyi]

    Bragança, P. H.N., R. M. van Zeeventer, R. Bills, D. Tweddle & A. Chakona. 2020. Diversity of the southern Africa Lacustricola Myers, 1924 and redescription of Lacustricola johnstoni (Günther, 1894) and Lacustricola myaposae (Boulenger, 1908) (Cyprinodontiformes, Procatopodidae). ZooKeys, 923: 91–113. [systematic in Southern African 'Lacustricola']