What is the key visual difference between megastoma and ipiranga

[anewbie]

Wetspot has a few megastoma for sale (wc but unclear if red specs or yellow specs) but i was comparing pictures to my ipiranga and other then the ipiranga having blue specs the form, shape and colouring of the fishes look very similar. In my naive way i would almost thing the ipirgana is a blue spec megastoma.

So i was wondering if someone with actual knowledge about the fishes taxonomy might know in more detail how the two species differ....

 

[Frank Hättich]

On the few pictures of different A. sp. Ipiranga specimens I know, I can't see any relevevant differences to A. megastoma.

 

[anewbie]

On the few pictures of different A. sp. Ipiranga specimens I know, I can't see any relevevant differences to A. megastoma.

So they could in fact be the same species though i suppose it would take a dna analysis ?

 

[Frank Hättich]

They could be the same species, but research of recent years suggests that Apistos with different catch locations are also different species.

 

[anewbie]

They could be the same species, but research of recent years suggests that Apistos with different catch locations are also different species.

Not to beg the question but why on tom's page is a sp ipiranga listed as a sep species but the various colour morph of megastoma listed as the same species. Has there been dna testing that confirm all the different catch location like sp "leticia" and sp "kelleri" are the same species or are there external markings that allow these to be grouped as the same while ipiranga is separated out from the group ?

Totally unrelated but there has been no new news for nearly 2 years does that mean all the discoveries have been made ?

 

[Frank Hättich]

A. sp. Kelleri, A. sp. Leticia etc. are merely names that have been used for A. megastoma before it eventually got it's scientific name. That's the reason why they are listed in the column named "Other Names".

 

[Frank Hättich]

does that mean all the discoveries have been made ?

I don't think so ;-)

 

[anewbie]

A. sp. Kelleri, A. sp. Leticia etc. are merely names that have been used for A. megastoma before it eventually got it's scientific name. That's the reason why they are listed in the column named "Other Names".

Oops; i thought they were other catch locations given the different colour forms. I guess i am confused or in plain terms stupid.