Ichthyologists from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Belgium have described a new African Nannopetersius tetra from the Lower Congo River drainage.
Soleil Lunkayilakio and Emmanuel Vreven have named the new species as Nannopetersius mutambuei in a recent issue of the journal Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters.
It can be distinguished from other Nannopetersius by a combination of lateral line-scale count, number of scale rows between the lateral line and the dorsal-fin origin, depth of the caudal peduncle, number of branched anal-fin rays; number of gill rakers on the first gill arch, eye diameter and a black longitudinal band present in preserved specimens but absent in living specimens.
This species is known from the Inkisi River drainage (part of the lower Congo River drainage), and is named after Mutambue Shango, who collected fishes from the Inkisi River drainage.
For more information, see the paper: Lunkayilakio, SW and E Vreven (2008) Nannopetersius mutambuei (Characiformes: Alestidae), a new species from the Inkisi River basin, Democratic Republic of Congo. Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters 19, pp. 367"376.