Contributions to Zoology, 74 (1/2) (2005)
Description of Poecilia (Acanthophacelus) wingein. sp.
from the Paría Peninsula, Venezuela, including notes on
AcanthophacelusEigenmann, 1907 and other subgenera
of Poecilia Bloch and Schneider, 1801 (Teleostei,
Cyprinodontiformes, Poeciliidae)
Fred N. Poeser 1, Michael Kempkes 2, Isaäc J. H. Isbrücker 1
1. Zoological Museum Amsterdam, University of Amsterdam, . P.O. Box 94766, 1090 GT, Amsterdam, The
Netherlands, . E-mail: poeser@science.uva.nl
2. Am Mühlenberg 25, . D-46419 Isselburg – Anholt, Germany.
Abstract
The taxonomy of the common guppy, Poecilia reticulata Peters, 1859, is reviewed and
the closely related Campoma guppy, P. wingei n. sp., is described. Formerly, the
common guppy was not judged to be closely related to any other species of Poecilia, but
the new species is the second species to be allocated in the subgenus Acanthophacelus
Eigenmann, 1907. The recognition of P. wingei results from observed character
displacement, i.e., on the interaction between two closely related species in a shared
environment. In addition to differences in coloration, behaviour also indicates specific
differences. The area in which P. wingei occurs, the Campoma region at the base of the
Paría Peninsula in Venezuela, hints to an origin of the subgenus Acanthophacelus prior
to the uplift of the Cordilleras, i.e., the eastern orogenesis of the Andes. Moreover, an
explanation is offered for aberrant molecular data in Trinidadian guppies.