Crenicichla chicha, a new species of pike cichlid (Teleostei: Cichlidae) from the rio Papagaio, upper rio Tapajós basin, Mato Grosso, Brazil

Crenicichla chicha, new species, occurs in clear, fast-running waters with rocky substrates in the rio Papagaio and tributaries. It is distinguished from all other Crenicichla species by the combination of two character states: infraorbitals 3 and 4 co-ossified (vs. separated) and 66-75 scales in the row immediately above to that containing the lower lateral line (E1 row scales). Crenicichla chicha shares a smooth preopercular margin, co-ossification of infraorbitals 3 and 4, and some color features with C. hemera from the adjacent rio Aripuanã drainage, rio Madeira basin. It differs from Crenicichla hemera in more E1 scales (66-75 vs. 58-65) and presence of a conspicuous black narrow stripe running from infraorbital 3 obliquely caudoventrad toward the preopercular margin vs. a rounded and faint suborbital marking present on infraorbitals 3-4. Examination of the type series and additional material from the rio Aripuanã confirms that Crenicichla guentheri Ploeg, 1991 is a junior subjective synonym of C. hemera Kullander, 1990.

The first author is grateful to Lúcia R. Py-Daniel and Marcelo Rocha (INPA), Roberto E. Reis and Carlos A. S. Lucena (MCP), Cláudio H. Zawadzki and Carla S. Pavanelli (NUP) for assistance while visiting their institutions. Ricardo Kawada for taking the composite photos of pharyngeal tooth plate and the infraorbitals series, to Leandro Sousa and Eduardo Baena for helping with image processing, to Renildo Oliveira for sending pictures of the type material of Crenicichla guentheri, to Waldo P. Troy for the photo of a recently collected paratype, and to José Birindelli for multiple suggestions along the development of the present study. Special thanks are due to Francisco A. Machado, for organizing the field expedition to the rio Papagaio, when most of the type- material of Crenicichla chicha was collected. We are also grateful to C. M. C. Leite and N. E. Silva for assistance during the field trip. H. R. V. and F. C. T. L. were funded by FAPESP (grant 2008/56130-1 and 2007/02978-7, respectively).