Cichlasomatinae: Heroini
Diagnosis
Kullander (1983) diagnosed a cichlasomine assemblage of
Neotropical cichlids for species usually assigned to the genera
Aequidens or
Cichlasoma and having four instead
of five dentary lateralis foramina. The reduced number of dentary
lateralis openings also characterises
Acaronia, crenicarines (with
serrated preopercle), and some species of geophagines
(
Apistogramma species). Kullander (1983) excluded
Acaronia from the cichlasomines, but the genus was
included by Stiassny (1991). Both Kullander (1983) and Stiassny
(1991) distinguished two subgroups which were then dealt with in
more detail and named
cichlasomines
and heroines, respectively, by Kullander (1996), and eventually
were recognized as tribes Cichlasomatini and Heroini of the
subfamily Cichlasomatinae (Kullander, 1998).
Heroines can be distinguished by three derived characters:
more than four anal fin spines and more than 15 anal rays total;
anteroventral lamina of palatine not articulating with the
vomerine shaft, and posteriorly displaced relative to the head of
the vomer; a lingual cusp on anterior oral teeth (or any
derivative involving more cusps or more teeth). The dental
character is not present in all members and may rather diagnose a
subgroup.
The heroine group comprises about 100 Central American and
about 40 South American species.
- Uaru
- Heroina
- Heros
- Mesonauta
- Pterophyllum
- Symphysodon
- Hypselecara
- Hoplarchus
- All the Caribbaean, Central and North American species
referred to Cichlasoma by earlier authors
- NE South American species referred to Cichlasoma by
earlier authors
- Cichlasoma facetum species group
References
KULLANDER, S.O. 1983. A revision of the South
American cichlid genus Cichlasoma. Swedish Museum of
Natural History, Stockholm.
KULLANDER, S.O. 1996. Heroina isonycterina, a new genus
and species of cichlid fish from Western Amazonia, with comments
on cichlasomine systematics. Ichthyol. Explor. Freshwaters, 7:
149-172.
STIASSNY, M.L.J. 1991. Phylogenetic intrarelationships of the
family Cichlidae: an overview. In KEENLEYSIDE, M.H.A. (ed.),
Cichlid fishes. Behaviour, ecology and evolution, pp. 1-35.