Aequidens Explained

Aequidens is a genus of fish in the family Cichlidae found in South America. Formerly a wastebasket genus, as presently defined Aequidens is largely restricted to the Amazon Basin, Orinoco Basin and river basins in The Guianas. The only exceptions are A. plagiozonatus which also occurs in the Paraná Basin, and A. tetramerus which also occurs in the Parnaíba River.

Taxonomy

Many species formerly placed in this genus have been reallocated to other genera such as Andinoacara, Bujurquina, Cleithracara, Krobia, Laetacara, Rondonacara and Tahuantinsuyoa.^[1]

Species

There are currently 18 recognized species in this genus:^{[2] [3]}

• Aequidens chimantanus Inger, 1956
• Aequidens diadema (Heckel, 1840)
• Aequidens epae S. O. Kullander, 1995
• Aequidens gerciliae S. O. Kullander, 1995
• Aequidens mauesanus S. O. Kullander, 1997
• Aequidens metae C. H. Eigenmann, 1922
• Aequidens michaeli S. O. Kullander, 1995
• Aequidens pallidus (Heckel, 1840) (Doublespot acara)
• Aequidens paloemeuensis S. O. Kullander & Nijssen, 1989
• Aequidens patricki S. O. Kullander, 1984
• Aequidens plagiozonatus S. O. Kullander, 1984
• Aequidens pirilampo Oliveira et al., 2024^[4]
• Aequidens potaroensis C. H. Eigenmann, 1912
• Aequidens rondoni (A. Miranda-Ribeiro, 1918)
• Aequidens superomaculatum Hernández-Acevedo, Machado-Allison & Lasso A., 2015^[5]
• Aequidens tetramerus (Heckel, 1840) (Saddle cichlid)
• Aequidens tubicen S. O. Kullander & E. J. G. Ferreira, 1991
• Aequidens viridis (Heckel, 1840)

Notes and References

1. Ottoni, F.P. & Mattos, J.L.O. (2015): Phylogenetic position and re-description of the endangered cichlid Nannacara hoehnei, and description of a new genus from Brazilian Cerrado (Teleostei, Cichlidae, Cichlasomatini). Vertebrate Zoology, 65 (1): 65-79.
2. Musilová, Z., Říčan, O. & Novák, J. (2009):Phylogeny of the Neotropical cichlid fish tribe Cichlasomatini (Teleostei: Cichlidae) based on morphological and molecular data, with the description of a new genus. Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research, 47 (3): 209-304.
3. Wijkmark, N., Kullander, S.O. & Barriga S., R.E. (2012): Andinoacara blombergi, a new species from the río Esmeraldas basin in Ecuador and a review of A. rivulatus (Teleostei: Cichlidae). Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters, 23 (2): 117-137.
4. Oliveira, Rianne Caroline de & Luiz Fernando Caserta Tencatt, Gabriel de Carvalho Deprá, Ricardo Britzke, Claudio Oliveira, Júnio da Graça, Weferson. 2024. "A new species of Aequidens (Cichliformes: Cichlidae) from the rio Paraguai basin, Brazil". Neotropical Ichthyology. 22(2):e230106. DOI: 10.1590/1982-0224-2023-0106
5. Hernández-Acevedo, J.H., Machado-Allison, A. & Lasso, C.A. (2015): Aequidens superomaculatum (Teleostei: Cichlidae) a new species from the upper Orinoco and Río Negro, Venezuela. Biota Colombiana, 16 (2): 96-106.