Brazilian ichthyologists have described two new species of eartheater from the Tocantins River in a recent issue of the journal Zootaxa.
The two new cichlid species are named Geophagus sveni (after Swedish cichlid expert Sven Kullander) and G. neambi (after Núcleo de Estudos Ambientais (Neamb), Universidade Federal do Tocantins in recognition of its efforts in studying the fish fauna of the Tocantins River) by Paulo Lucinda, Carlos Lucena and Newton Assis.
Both G. sveni and G. neambi differ from some congeners in lacking markings on the head.
Geophagus sveni is distinguished from the species lacking head markings by the presence of five faint undivided vertical bars, a prominent midlateral blotch, and vertical black bars on the caudal fin.
Geophagus neambi differs from the species lacking head markings in having eight or nine vertical, parallel bars along the flank, the bar containing midlateral blotch bifurcating above and below the blotch and in having rounded white spots on the caudal fin.
Although G. sveni has not been encountered in the aquarium trade, G. neambi might be the same species as the one identified as Geophagus sp. “Aereos” in the trade.
For more information, see the paper: Lucinda, PHF, CAS Lucena and NC Assis (2010) Two new species of cichlid fish genus Geophagus Heckel from the Rio Tocantins drainage (Perciformes: Cichlidae). Zootaxa 2429, pp. 29–42.