Note 3 - Protomelas pleurotaenia lectotype

Note 3 - Protomelas pleurotaenia lectotype Lectotype of Protomelas pleurotaenia (Boulenger)

Boulenger (1901) described Tilapia pleurotaenia (now called Protomelas pleurotaenia) from 11 specimens collected by J.E.S. Moore, labeled as having come from Lake Tanganyika and the Rusisi River. Trewavas (1946) corrected the locality errors; this and some other species so labeled by Moore are actually from Lake Malawi. Among the 11 syntypes of T. pleurotaenia were actually four species now placed in three genera: Mylochromis plagiotaenia, Otopharynx selenurus, Protomelas pleurotaenia, and Protomelas mylodon (Trewavas, 1946; Eccles & Trewavas, 1989).

Eccles & Trewavas (p. 46: fig. 7) illustrated P. pleurotaenia using the drawing from Regan (1922: fig. 10). This specimen is one of the syntypes (BMNH 1908.10.27:89) of Haplochromis microstoma Regan, a species now synonymized with P. pleurotaenia; thus, the correct species is illustrated. However, they mistakenly captioned this figure as showing the lectotype. Eccles & Trewavas designated (1989: 47) as lectotype of P. pleurotaenia BMNH 1906.9.6:139, the specimen that had been figured by Boulenger.

The Cichlid Fishes of Lake Malawi, Africa: MalawiCichlids.com