''Aulonocara auditor'' is a species of

haplochromine __NOTOC__ The haplochromine cichlids are a tribe of cichlids in subfamily Pseudocrenilabrinae called Haplochromini. This group includes the type genus (''Haplochromis'') plus a number of closely related genera such as '' Aulonocara'', '' Astat ...

cichlid Cichlids are fish from the family Cichlidae in the order Cichliformes. Cichlids were traditionally classed in a suborder, the Labroidei, along with the wrasses ( Labridae), in the order Perciformes, but molecular studies have contradicted this ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Lake Malawi Lake Malawi, also known as Lake Nyasa in Tanzania and Lago Niassa in Mozambique, is an African Great Lake and the southernmost lake in the East African Rift system, located between Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania. It is the fifth largest fre ...

. It was known only from the

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

collected in northern Lake Malawi near Vua, Malawi. The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

state that this species may possibly be extinct due to beach seining within its limited range but there are claims that it was observed in 1989 and was quite numerous, although this was later retracted and it was stated that these observations referred to '' Aulonocara aquilonium''. Following an examination of the holotype, this examination also suggests that ''A. auditor'' may not be a species of ''

Aulonocara ''Aulonocara'' is a genus of haplochromine cichlids endemic to Lake Malawi in East Africa. All ''Aulonocara'' species are maternal mouth brooders. Particularly in the aquarium hobby, ''Aulonocara'' species are also known as peacock cichlids, a ...

'' and that more material needs to be collected and studied.

References

Fish of Malawi auditor Taxa named by Ethelwynn Trewavas Fish described in 1935 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Fish of Lake Malawi {{Cichlidae-stub