__NOTOC__ ''Telmatochromis'' is a small

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 ...

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of the

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

Pseudocrenilabrinae The Pseudocrenilabrinae are a subfamily in the cichlid family of fishes to which, according to a study from 2004, includes all the Middle Eastern and African cichlids with the exception of the unusual '' Heterochromis multidens'' and the Malaga ...

. These

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fish or actinopterygians, is a class of bony fish that comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. They are so called because of their lightly built fins made of webbings of sk ...

es 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 the

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. ...

basin (mostly in the lake itself, but also its outflow river Lukuga) in Africa.

Systematics

Analysis of their

mtDNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA and mDNA) is the DNA located in the mitochondria organelles in a eukaryotic cell that converts chemical energy from food into adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA is a small portion of the DNA contained in ...

NADH dehydrogenase NADH dehydrogenase is an enzyme that converts nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) from its reduced form (NADH) to its oxidized form (NAD+). Members of the NADH dehydrogenase family and analogues are commonly systematically named using the f ...

subunit 2 (ND2)

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 cal ...

shows that

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two diff ...

ization must have played some role in the

evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

of this genus. (2007): Phylogenetic relationships of the Lake Tanganyika cichlid tribe Lamprologini: The story from mitochondrial DNA. '' Mol. Phylogenet. Evol.'' 45(2): 629–642. (HTML abstract) For one thing, it might be that ''Telmatochromis'' is close to ''

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 ...

'', which they somewhat resemble. A possibility is hybridization between the ancestor of ''Telmatochromis'' and a lineage of ''Julidochromis'' which later gave rise to '' J. marlieri'' and the Convict Julie (''J. regani''). Similar ND2 DNA has been found in these and '' T. bifrenatus'', '' T. brichardi'' and '' T. temporalis''. '' T. vittatus'' on the other hand has a ND2 DNA sequence resembling that of '' Lamprologus congoensis'' and '' L. teugelsi''. But ''T. vittatus'' does not at all appear very similar to these species, and in fact may well be closer to ''T. bifrenatus'' and ''T. brichardi'' than to ''T. temporalis''. That would mean that male ancestors of ''T. vittatus'' had successfully interbred with female ''

Lamprologus ''Lamprologus'' is a genus of fishes from the cichlid family. They are native to Lake Tanganyika (where several species are shell dwellers) and the Congo River Basin in Africa. The type species for this genus is ''Lamprologus congoensis'', a spe ...

'' after the lineage of the former had diverged from its relatives.

Species

There are currently six recognized species in this genus: * '' Telmatochromis bifrenatus'' G. S. Myers, 1936 * '' Telmatochromis brachygnathus'' Hanssens & Snoeks, 2003 * '' Telmatochromis brichardi'' Louisy, 1989 * '' Telmatochromis dhonti'' ( Boulenger, 1919) * '' Telmatochromis temporalis'' Boulenger, 1898 * '' Telmatochromis vittatus'' Boulenger, 1898

References

Lamprologini Cichlid genera Taxa named by George Albert Boulenger {{Lamprologini-stub