Endler's livebearer gets formal name
The popular Endler's livebearer now has a formal scientific name after scientists completed a study of the species and compared it to the common guppy.
Poeser, Kempkes and Isbrucker have named the Endler's livebearer, or Campoma guppy as it is also known, as Poecilia wingei in a paper in the journal Contributions to Zoology.
The species has been placed in the Poecilia subgenus Acanthophacelus, which was originally erected by Eigenmann in 1907, and according to the authors, it is very closely related to the common guppy, Poecilia reticulata.
The "new" species, or Campopa guppy as the scientists refer to it, differs from the common guppy in colouration and behaviour, which allows the species to be reproductively isolated.
Poecilia wingei is found in the Campoma region of Venezuela, at the base of the Paria Peninsula. The study says that the subgenus Acanthophacelus must have originated in this area prior to the uplift of the Cordilleras geologically.
Spot the differenceThe most striking difference between Poecilia wingei and P. reticulata is in the structure of the gonopodium.
A structure called the gonopodial palp extends beyond the tip of the gonopodium in P. wingei, but not in reticulata. It also lacks a hook at ray three.
Furthermore, the species is unusual in that males come in a range of different colour forms due to polychromatism. This is only really known in the very similar-looking Micropoecilia species.
The large band on the middle of the wild-type P. wingei is also a characteristic of the species, but it appears to be missing in many of the aquarium forms of P. wingei.
Endler's livebearer?The authors don't categorically state in the paper that Poecilia wingei is exactly the same species as the fish on sale in the trade as the Endler's livebearer, however, this does seem a plausible identity for the fish.
"The populations of Campoma-like guppies collected in a coastal area of Venezuela, in Cumana, Laguna de los Platos (Endler, pers. comm.), might very well be an established local population of P. wingei.
"How guppies were distributed there is unknown; they might be remains of an earlier, wider range of the Campoma guppy, but most likely they are released aquarium specimens originated from the Cariaco-Carupano drainage."
This is also not the first time the Endler's livebearer has been given a new common name either. Alexander and Breden, who looked at incipient speciation in the Endler's livebearers in Cumana called the fish the Cumana guppy. In the aquarium trade, the common name of Endler's livebearer is likely to be with us for a long time.
Alexander and Breden's 2004 study of speciation in Cumana guppies also provided further support to demonstrate that the fish has morphological differences with the common guppy, as well as sexual isolation.
The species is named in honour of Dr Ojvind Winge, head of the Department of Physiology a father of genetic engineering and a scientist who undertook considerable research on the colouration and genetics of guppies.
For more information see the paper: Poeser, FN, M Kempkes, and IJH Isbrcker, 2005. Description of Poecilia (Acanthophacelus) wingei n. sp. from the Para Peninsula, Venezuela, including notes on Acanthophacelus Eigenmann, 1907 and other subgenera of Poecilia Bloch and Schneider, 1808 (Teleostei, Cyprinodontiformes, Poeciliidae). Contributions to Zoology 74: 97-115.