Hyphessobrycon peugeoti © Ingenito et al.

A new tetra of the genus Hyphessobrycon has been described from affluents of the middle rio Juruena, itself a tributary in the upper rio Tapajós basin, Mato Grosso State, Brazil.

The new species is named H. peugeoti in honour of the Peugeot family who ‘invented the Peugeot pepper mill mechanism in 1842 and whose manufacturing business led to the establishment of a carbon sink reforestation project in the fazenda São Nicolau, in central Brazil, and eventually to the discovery of this new species.’

It’s currently known from only a handful of localities with one habitat comprising a flowing stream with sandy substrate and little aquatic vegetation in a swampy, deforested area immediately downstream from pristine forest.

Other specimens were collected from flooded habitats close to the main channel of the rio Juruena.

Hyphessobrycon loweae © Ingenito et al.

H. peugeoti is easily told apart from all other members of the genus, except H. loweae and H. heliacus, by possessing a filamentous elongation of the dorsal fin and the straight-shaped anal-fin margin in males.

The most obvious way to distinguish it from H. loweae and H. heliacus is by the overall red colouration when alive since the other two are golden in colour, although it also differs in a number of other characters.

Additional information regarding H. loweae and a discussion featuring comments on the existence of a putative monophyletic group containing H. elachys, H. heliacus, H. loweae, H. moniliger and H. peugeoti are also included.

For further information refer to the full, open-access paper: Ingenito, L. F. S., F. C. T. Lima and P. A. Buckup, 2013. A new species of Hyphessobrycon Durbin (Characiformes: Characidae) from the rio Juruena basin, Central Brazil, with notes on H. loweae Costa & Géry. Neotropical Ichthyology 11(1): 33-44