A new species of cichlid fish from the Malagarasi swamps and river (Tanzania, East Africa) Peter Humphry Greenwood Department of Zoology, British Museum (Natural History), Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD Introduction The material described below was collected in the Malagarasi river and swamps by members of the East African Fisheries Research Organization (later the East African Freshwater Fisheries Research Organization) during a survey of the area carried out in August and September 1952. Details of the habitats from which specimens were obtained are given in Greenwood ( 1 954:40 1-402). The new taxon brings the total number of cichlid species recorded from the upper part of the Malagarasi system to six, of which five (the new species, Astatoreochromis vanderhorsti [Greenwood], Orthochromis malagaraziensis [David], Sarotherodon karomo [Poll], and Serranochromis janus Trewavas) are endemic; the sixth species, provisionally identified as Astatotilapia bloyeti (Sauv.), belongs to a poorly understood complex of taxa. It may well be specifically distinct from the type and other populations of A. bloyeti, and thus would also have to be considered an endemic of the Malagarasi system (see Greenwood, 1954, & 1979:283-286, 297-298 and 302-303). Astatotilapia paludinosa sp. nov. HOLOTYPE. An adult male 100 + 26 mm long, from the Malagarasi swamps at Katare (Tanzania); BMNH reg. no. 1956.7.9.266. The trivial name, from the Latin, refers to the nature of the type locality. DESCRIPTION (Figs 1 & 2). Based on 56 specimens (including the holotype) from the Malagarasi swamps at and near Katare, and the river below Uvinza. The material is divided into two groups, one of fishes 20-50 mm standard length, the other of fishes from 52-1 08 mm SL. Additional material, examined in the field, is incorporated in the colour descriptions and in the data on food and feeding habits. In the table of proportions, head length, body depth and caudal peduncle length are expressed as percentages of standard length; all other measurements (indicated thus f) are given as percentages of head length. M = mean. Standard Length 20-50 mm 52-108 mm Depth of body 33-3-36-7 M = 34-8 33-4-40-1 M = 36-8 Length of head 33-3-38-3 M = 34-8 32-6-39-0 M = 35-0 Preorbital depth t 10-0-16-7 M = 13-2 14-0-19-0 M = 16-7 Interorbital width t 18-8-25-0 M = 21-3 18-2-24-0 M = 21-1 Snout length f 22-2-30-0 M = 26-4 28-0-33-3 M = 30-7 Eye diameter t 25-0-35-0 M = 30-2 23-5-30-9 M = 27-2 Cheek depth t 12-5-23-0 M = 19-4 22-8-28-5 M = 25-1 Caudal peduncle length 14-0-19-0 M = 15-8 1 1-5-16-4 M= 14-0 Dorsal head and snout profile straight, except for a slight interorbital concavity; sloping moderately steeply (c. 30-35 to the horizontal). Snout as broad as or slightly broader than Bull. Br. Mm. nat. Hist. (Zool.) 38 (3) : 1 59-1 63 Issued 29 May 1 980 159
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