Lamprologini is a
tribe
The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...
of
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
n
cichlid
Cichlids ()
are a large, diverse, and widespread family of percomorph fish in the family Cichlidae, order Cichliformes. At least 1,760 species have been scientifically described, making it one of the largest vertebrate families, with on ...
fishes. It contains seven
genera
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...
and nearly 100
species
A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
. Over half of the species in this tribe are in the large genus ''Neolamprologus''. Most genera in the tribe are
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 foun ...
to
Lake Tanganyika
Lake Tanganyika ( ; ) is an African Great Lakes, African Great Lake. It is the world's List of lakes by volume, second-largest freshwater lake by volume and the List of lakes by depth, second deepest, in both cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia. ...
, but one species of ''Neolamprologus'' (''
N. devosi'') is from the
Malagarasi River in
Tanzania
Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...
, and several species of ''
Lamprologus'' are from the
Congo River Basin.
The species in this tribe are very small to medium-sized cichlids, but vary extensively in appearance and habitat preference.
[Smith, M.P. (1998). Lake Tanganyikan Cichlids, p. 10—11. ] Unlike most Tanganyika cichlids which are
mouthbrooders, Lamprologini species are substrate spawners (typically using caves or rock crevices), and some are
shell dwellers.
Genera
* '' Altolamprologus'' (3 species)
* '' Chalinochromis'' (3 species)
* ''Julidochromis
''Julidochromis'' is a genus of cichlids in the subfamily Pseudocrenilabrinae. They are commonly called julies and are endemic to Lake Tanganyika in eastern Africa. This genus includes six formally described species, some with a number local v ...
'' (6 species)
* '' Lamprologus'' (19 species)
* '' Lepidiolamprologus'' (6-11 species)
* '' Neolamprologus'' (~50 species)
* '' Telmatochromis'' (7 species)
* '' Variabilichromis'' (1 species)
References
External links
* https://web.archive.org/web/20081012094310/http://research.amnh.org/ichthyology/staff/bob/lamps/lamps.html
* http://www.helsinki.fi/~mhaaramo/metazoa/deuterostoma/chordata/actinopterygii/perciformes/labroidei/cichlidae/lamprologini.html
* http://www.cichlidae.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=3254
Fish tribes
Pseudocrenilabrinae
*
{{Lamprologini-stub