Australoheros tembe Casciotta, Gomez & Toresanni 1995

Australoheros tembe (Casciotta, Gómez & Toresanni, 1995)

Cichlasoma tembe Casciotta, Gómez & Toresanni, 1995: 194, fig. 1 (Type locality: Argentina, Arroyo Urugua-í, above Salto del Urugua-í, at`Alto Paraná ' company fields, Rio Paraná basin. Holotype: MLP 9059).

Material examined: 6 specimens, 50.9–117.8 mm SL. Argentina, Misiones, Arroyo Urugua-í drainage: STRI 2517, 1, 71.4 mm SL; STRI 2518, 1, 82.6 mm SL; STRI 2524, 1, 117.8 mm SL; STRI 2467, 3, 50.9–110.5 mm SL.

Casciotta et al. (1995) provide a detailed description of Australoheros tembe and its comparison with A. facetus from Argentina. Only additional observation on life coloration and distribution are given here.

Color in life. Life specimens collected in the wild have a beautiful green ground color, which they however fail to develop under aquarium conditions (Casciotta et al., 2003). Such green ground color is not known from any other species of Australoheros. Casciotta et al. (2003) further describe the breeding of A. tembe under aquarium conditions.

Australoheros tembe in breeding coloration have a yellowish–whitish ground color, with distinct black vertical bars as in all Australoheros species. Breeding females have the ventral area and lower portion of head black, while breeding males have the same area pinkish, similar in color to A. minuano, where the whole body of the breeding male is pinkish to red. Australoheros tembe is the only Australoheros species that does not develop or only develops in very limited degree the Australoheros autapomorphic breeding color pattern (Ř íčan & Kullander, 2006) of interrupted dorsal portions of abdominal bars. With hatching and free-swimming of fry both sexes guard the free-swimming offspring and also the male now develops the black coloration on the belly and lower portion of head (Casciotta et al., 2003).

Distribution. Australoheros tembe is endemic to the Arroyo Urugua-í, Río Paraná drainage, Misiones, Argentina (Casciotta et al., 1995; Fig. 3). Casciotta et al. (2003) mention a record of A. cf. tembe (MLP 8574) from the Arroyo Fortaleza, Río Uruguay drainage, Misiones, Argentina. Ř íčan and Kullander (2006) have demonstrated the presence of A. forquilha, a similar species, in the Río Soberbio, Río Uruguay drainage, Misiones, Argentina (Fig. 3). A. cf. tembe could thus also be A. forquilha, or the two species may occur together in these NW Argentinian tributaries of the Río Uruguay.