''Neolamprologus'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

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 ...

to eastern Africa with all but one species, '' Neolamprologus devosi'' from the

Malagarasi River The Malagarasi River is a river in western Tanzania, flowing through Kigoma Region, although one of its tributaries comes from southeastern Burundi. The river also forms the western border of Tabora Region, the southern border of Kagera Region and ...

, occurring in

Lake Tanganyika Lake Tanganyika () is an African Great Lake. It is the second-oldest freshwater lake in the world, the second-largest by volume, and the second-deepest, in all cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia. It is the world's longest freshwater lake. ...

. It is the largest genus of cichlids in Lake Tanganyika and also the largest genus in the tribe Lamprologini, which includes '' Altolamprologus'', ''

Chalinochromis ''Chalinochromis'' is a small cichlid genus from the subfamily Pseudocrenilabrinae. These ray-finned fishes are endemic to Lake Tanganyika in the East African Rift. The scientific name refers to the bridle-like markings across the heads of member ...

'', '' Julidochromis'', ''

Lamprologus ''Lamprologus'' is a genus of fishes from the 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 P ...

'', '' Lepidiolamprologus'', ''

Telmatochromis __NOTOC__ ''Telmatochromis'' is a small cichlid genus of the subfamily Pseudocrenilabrinae. These ray-finned fishes are endemic to the Lake Tanganyika basin (mostly in the lake itself, but also its outflow river Lukuga) in Africa. Systematics A ...

'' and '' Variabilichromis''. The latter is a

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

genus doubtfully distinct from ''Neolamprologus''. It is already known for some time that according to mtDNA

sequence In mathematics, a sequence is an enumerated collection of objects in which repetitions are allowed and order matters. Like a set, it contains members (also called ''elements'', or ''terms''). The number of elements (possibly infinite) is calle ...

analysis, this genus is very probably polyphyletic. It is likely that it will be revised eventually; if ''Variabilichromis'' is split off, at least some of the more ancient lineages currently placed in ''Neolamprologus'' are probably worthy of separation also. However, the morphological similarity and numerous undescribed species do not make analyses easier, and as with many cichlids, recent

speciation Speciation is the evolutionary process by which populations evolve to become distinct species. The biologist Orator F. Cook coined the term in 1906 for cladogenesis, the splitting of lineages, as opposed to anagenesis, phyletic evolution within ...

and abundant

hybridization Hybridization (or hybridisation) may refer to: *Hybridization (biology), the process of combining different varieties of organisms to create a hybrid *Orbital hybridization, in chemistry, the mixing of atomic orbitals into new hybrid orbitals *Nu ...

seriously confound molecular studies to the point where single-gene studies or those using only mtDNA or nDNA are essentially worthless for resolving Lamprologini

phylogeny A phylogenetic tree (also phylogeny or evolutionary tree Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, MA.) is a branching diagram or a tree showing the evolutionary relationships among various biological spec ...

.Sturmbauer ''et al.'' (1994), Day ''et al.'' (2007) While lineages are clearly different in their morphology, habits and ecology,

gene flow In population genetics, gene flow (also known as gene migration or geneflow and allele flow) is the transfer of genetic material from one population to another. If the rate of gene flow is high enough, then two populations will have equivalent a ...

between genera and species is common enough due to extremely low postzygotic isolation. Males of ''Neolamprologus'' apparently have always readily and successfully mated with females of other Lamprologini they found ready to spawn: mtDNA lineages similar to other Lamprologini genera are widely encountered in species placed in ''Neolamprologus''. And not only do such hybrids seem to be fertile at least to a limited extent in many cases, new species often appear to originate from such interbreeding.Day ''et al.'' (2007) Neolamprologus multifasciatus 3

Species

There are currently 46 recognized species in this genus: * '' Neolamprologus bifasciatus'' Büscher, 1993 * ''

Neolamprologus boulengeri ''Lepidiolamprologus boulengeri'' is a species of cichlid endemic to Lake Tanganyika where it is known from the Tanzanian coast in the northern part of the lake. Pairs of this species live together in their territory and the female lives in sna ...

Steindachner Franz Steindachner (11 November 1834 in Vienna – 10 December 1919 in Vienna) was an Austrian zoologist, ichthyologist, and herpetologist. He published over 200 papers on fishes and over 50 papers on reptiles and amphibians. Steindachner describ ...

, 1909 * '' Neolamprologus brevis''

Boulenger Boulenger is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Benjamin Boulenger (born 1990), French footballer * Edward George Boulenger (1888–1946), British zoologist, director of aquarium at London Zoo * George Albert Boulenger (1858–1 ...

, 1899 * ''

Neolamprologus brichardi ''Neolamprologus brichardi'' is a species of cichlid endemic to the alkaline waters of Lake Tanganyika in East Africa. It is a popular aquarium fish kept in the fishkeeping hobby, where it is known under a variety of common names including Prin ...

'' Poll, 1974 * '' Neolamprologus buescheri'' Staeck, 1983 * '' Neolamprologus cancellatus'' Aibara, T. Takahashi & Nakaya, 2005 * '' Neolamprologus caudopunctatus'' Poll, 1978 * '' Neolamprologus chitamwebwai'' Verburg & I. R. Bills, 2007 * '' Neolamprologus christyi'' Trewavas & Poll, 1952 * '' Neolamprologus crassus'' Brichard, 1989 * ''

Neolamprologus cylindricus ''Neolamprologus cylindricus'' is a species of cichlid endemic to Lake Tanganyika where it is only known to occur in the southeastern part of the lake. It prefers to live in recesses in the substrate and eats small benthic invertebrates. It lays ...

'' Staeck & Seegers, 1986 * '' Neolamprologus devosi'' Schelly, Stiassny & Seegers, 2003 * '' Neolamprologus falcicula'' Brichard, 1989 * ''

Neolamprologus fasciatus ''Neolamprologus fasciatus'' is a species of cichlid endemic to Lake Tanganyika. This species spawns in empty snail shells. This species can reach a length of TL. This species can also be found in the aquarium trade. They are piscivores and ...

, 1898 * '' Neolamprologus furcifer''

, 1898 * ''

Neolamprologus gracilis ''Neolamprologus gracilis'' is a species of cichlid endemic to Lake Tanganyika where it is known from Cape Kapampa on the western coast and on the eastern coast from the area of coast below the Mahale Mountains The Mahale Mountains are a mo ...

'' Brichard, 1989 * '' Neolamprologus helianthus'' Büscher, 1997 * ''

Neolamprologus leleupi ''Neolamprologus leleupi'' (lemon cichlid) is a species of cichlid endemism, endemic to Lake Tanganyika where it occurs throughout the lake. It is a recess-dweller, inhabiting cracks and crevices. It feeds on invertebrates living in the rich ...

'' Poll, 1956 * '' Neolamprologus leloupi'' Poll, 1948 * '' Neolamprologus longicaudatus'' Nakaya & Gashagaza, 1995 * '' Neolamprologus longior'' Staeck, 1980 * '' Neolamprologus marunguensis'' Büscher, 1989 * '' Neolamprologus modestus''

, 1898 * '' Neolamprologus mondabu''

, 1906 * '' Neolamprologus multifasciatus''

, 1906 * ''

Neolamprologus mustax ''Neolamprologus mustax'' is a species of cichlid endemic to Lake Tanganyika. This species reaches a length of TL. It can also be found in the aquarium trade. Individuals are yellow in color and thus resemble juveniles of another cichlid spe ...

'' Poll, 1978 * '' Neolamprologus niger'' Poll, 1956 * ''

Neolamprologus nigriventris ''Neolamprologus nigriventris'' is a species of cichlid endemic to Lake Tanganyika where it is usually found along the lakes southwestern coast in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This species can reach a length of TL. This species c ...

'' Büscher, 1992 * '' Neolamprologus obscurus'' Poll, 1978 * '' Neolamprologus olivaceous'' Brichard, 1989 * '' Neolamprologus pectoralis'' Büscher, 1991 * '' Neolamprologus petricola'' Poll, 1949 * '' Neolamprologus pleuromaculatus'' Trewavas & Poll, 1952 * '' Neolamprologus prochilus'' R. M. Bailey & D. J. Stewart, 1977 * ''

Neolamprologus pulcher ''Neolamprologus pulcher'' is a species of cichlid endemic to Lake Tanganyika where it prefers locations with plenty of sedimentation. The common name for ''N. pulcher'' is the daffodil cichlid. This species can reach a length of TL. It can ...

'' Trewavas & Poll, 1952 * '' Neolamprologus savoryi'' Poll, 1949 * '' Neolamprologus schreyeni'' Poll, 1974 * '' Neolamprologus sexfasciatus'' Trewavas & Poll, 1952 * ''

Neolamprologus similis ''Neolamprologus similis'' is a shell-dwelling cichlid endemic to Lake Tanganyika in Africa, where it is only known along the shores of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania. ''N. similis'' is copper-coloured with vertical white strip ...

'' Büscher, 1992 * '' Neolamprologus splendens'' Brichard, 1989 * '' Neolamprologus tetracanthus''

, 1899 (Fourspine cichlid) * '' Neolamprologus timidus'' S. O. Kullander, Norén, Mi. Karlsson & Ma. Karlsson, 2014 Kullander, S.O., Norén, M., Karlsson, M. & Karlsson, M. (2014)
Description of ''Neolamprologus timidus'', new species, and review of ''N. furcifer'' from Lake Tanganyika (Teleostei: Cichlidae).
''Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters, 24 (4)

013 013 is a music venue in Tilburg, the Netherlands. The venue opened in 1998 and replaced the ''Noorderligt'', the ''Bat Cave'' and the ''MuziekKantenWinkel''. 013 is the largest popular music venue in the southern Netherlands. There are two concer ...

301-328.'' * '' Neolamprologus toae'' Poll, 1949 * '' Neolamprologus tretocephalus''

, 1899 * ''

Neolamprologus variostigma ''Neolamprologus'' is a genus of cichlids endemic to eastern Africa with all but one species, ''Neolamprologus devosi'' from the Malagarasi River, occurring in Lake Tanganyika. It is the largest genus of cichlids in Lake Tanganyika and also the l ...

'' Büscher, 1995 * '' Neolamprologus ventralis'' Büscher, 1995 * '' Neolamprologus walteri'' Verburg & I. R. Bills, 2007 * '' Neolamprologus wauthioni'' Poll, 1949

Footnotes

References

* (2007): Phylogenetic relationships of the Lake Tanganyika cichlid tribe Lamprologini: The story from mitochondrial DNA. '' Mol. Phylogenet. Evol.'' 45(2): 629–642. (HTML abstract) * (1998): ''Tanganyikan cichlids in their natural habitat''. Cichlid Press. * (2003): ''Neolamprologus pulcher'' "Daffodil II". ''Fincinnati'' 2003
PDF fulltext
* (1994): Mitochondrial phylogeny of the Lamprologini, the major substrate spawning lineage of cichild fishes from Lake Tanganyika in eastern Africa. '' Mol. Biol. Evol.'' 11(4): 691-703
PDF fulltext
{{Taxonbar, from=Q132743 Lamprologini * Cichlid genera