© F. P. Ottoni et al.

A new species of the dwarf cichlid genus Laetacara was described in the journal ‘Vertebrate Zoology’ recently, bringing the total number of species in the grouping to seven.

L. flamannellus (Ottoni et al. 2012) is known only from the coastal floodplains of eastern Amapá state, northern Brazil, where it occurs in highly seasonal habitats. Between July and December permanent water is restricted to the major river channels, but during the wet season from January to July these overflow significantly and flood large tracts of the surrounding grasslands and forest.

It differs from congeners in a number of characters including:  possession of a dark brown or black spot located on the dorsal-fin base and surrounded by an orange ring; a yellow stripe on the middle portion of the dorsal-fin, crossing the whole fin; absence of red pigmentation on the belly; absence of a red or purple zone on the anal-fin base; absence of a red patch on the caudal-fin base; presence of cycloid scales on the opercle plate; trunk scales above the upper lateral line with a few ctenii.

The type series was collected from temporal flooded grassland in shallow water of no more than 0.5 metres in depth alongside Rivulus schuncki, Hoplerythrinus unitaeniatus, and an unidentified Nannostomussp. At another spot in a small, flowing Igarapé (creek) it was again collected in shallow water in flooded marginal zones wth sympatric fishes including Apistogramma gossei, Crenicichla inpa, Krobia sp., Mesonauta sp., Satanoperca jurupari, and Fluviphylax palikur.

L. flamannellus does appear to have entered the aquarium hobby in limited numbers and may have been traded as the congener L. curviceps.

For further information please refer to the full, open access paper: Ottoni, F. P., P. H. N. Bragança, P. F. Amorim, and C. S. Gama. 2012. A new species of Laetacara from the northern Brazil coastal floodplains (Teleostei: Cichlidae). Vertebrate Zoology 62(2): 181-188.