The phylogenetic relationships among 13 species of the Tanganyikan cichlid genus
Xenotilapia and 12 related genera were investigated based on internal and external morphological features.
Xenotilapia is paraphyletic unless
Asprotilapia,
Enantiopus, and
Microdontochromis are treated as junior synonyms. The expanded
Xenotilapia is characterized by four infraorbitals, in which the anteriormost bone bears four or five sensory pores and does not overlap
the elongated second bone.
Key words Xenotilapia - Phylogeny - Morphology - Synonymy - Lake Tanganyika
Received: May 30, 2002 / Revised: September 24, 2002 / Accepted: October 7, 2002
Acknowledgments I express my sincere thanks to K. Amaoka (formerly HUMZ), K. Nakaya (HUMZ), and H. Imamura (The Hokkaido University Museum)
for their valuable advice and the loan of specimens examined; to J. Snoeks and G.G. Teugels (MRAC), and W.L. Fink (UMMZ) for
the loan of specimens; to G.S. Hardy (Ngunguru, New Zealand), and A. Rossiter (LBM) for their advice and comments on the manuscript;
and to M. Aibara and Y. Furuyama (HUMZ) for their kind assistance. I am very thankful to the Fisheries Department, Agriculture
and Natural Resources, Government of Zambia, for their full cooperation and permission to make collections. I am also thankful
to L.M. Mwape and H. Phiri, and other staff of the Lake Tanganyika Research Unit in Mpulungu, for assistance during collection
of LBM specimens. This study was partly supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Overseas Scientific Survey (Nos. 04041078 and 10041178)
from the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture, Government of Japan.