Re: [Killietalk] Fp. Gardneri

[Scott Davis <unclescott at prodigy_net>]

Or Fundulopanchax gardneri nigerianus (Steinholt
Clausen, 1963. I'm sure Karl is correct in what they
were trying to write. The endings of the species,
subspecies and sub genus names depend upon the gender
of the Genus. Yet another reason not to fool around
with subgenus. ;)

In the 1950s and '60s Dr. Clausen and his friend J.J.
Scheel began circulating eggs of new killies from
Nigeria. A 1957 collection from Akure by a
Birket-Smith was sent to Scheel and he spread them
around. The form with the yellow bands in the unpaired
fins (anal, dorsal, tail) of this "guppy of the
killies" was given a hobby name  of convenience by
hobbyists and called Aphyosemion "calliurum" even
though it didn't look like the calliurum in the books.
The blue morph was given the name of convenience "A.
ahli" though again, guys like Chicagoan George Maier
knew it wasn't the real ahli. The nickname "steel-blue
Fundulus" was sometimes attached to it.

Using names of convenience seems like a very foolish
practice today, But those folks had only access to a 
tiny fraction of the killies we have today. It was
only in the 1970s that most of us in the hobby, became
aware of the wisdom of using collecting localities
with the killies.

The Innes Book, Exotic Aquarium Fishes, by the way,
carried an Aphyosemion gardneri, but the photo was of
what was A. filamentosum, Fp. filamentosus today.  In
an article published with the AKA in the 1970s, Roloff
mentions that he sent those fish to Innes, identifying
them as filamentosum and was puzzled as to why the
names were switched. Scheel, who sorts a lot of this
out in his 1968 book and later Atlas, noted that the
GAR name was attached to a lot of filamentosum types,
really confusing identification of those West African
killies.

Clausen described A. nigerianum in 1963 using fish
from the southern foothills to the Jos Plateau. In
part that should have given aquarists a chance to
quite using those names of convenience. Scheel,
comparing them with other collections and museum
material concluded that there was no difference from
the real gardneri.

Some gardneri strains have been associated with
different  subgeneric names (nigerianum/ clauseni for
instance) at different times. As with the
Chromaphyosemion, it is wise to keep the collection
locality name with them - as your source did. The use
and changing use and dropping of the subgenus names
for the same fish makes that location ID especially
important.

Sometime a seller will drudge an old nickname or
scientific name up, to make what they are offering
sound more exotic and rare than it is. So there have
been offerings of the "Burundi Aphyosemion" long after
it was described as A. (now Fundulopanchax) scheeli.
A. gardneri gardneri and A. gardneri Nsukka (then the
same fish) were offered in the same F&E.

On Aquabid at the moment there is an offering of a
Pair Paraphyosemion Nigerianum Misaje-Bright Color.

Fundulopanchax gardneri Misaje would be sufficient.
Paraphyosemion is a grouping within Fundulopanchax and
often a killie show class of gardneri and closely
related species such as walkeri and mirabelis. But the
seller, who seems to raise some nice fish, makes it
look like something new to the hobby.

Trying to dazzled the peasants I guess. Caveat emptor!

Probably time for several e-mails from the
self-proclaimed nomenclature police to Aquabid
sellers. ;)

All the best!

Scott

--- Karl Doering <kilikarl at bignet_net> wrote:

> nigerianum Makurdi
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: <BrandtEdL at aol_com>
> To: <killietalk at aka_org>
> Sent: Sunday, April 16, 2006 9:48 PM
> Subject: [Killietalk] Fp. Gardneri
> 
> 
> > Hi all, Happy Easter and Passover.  Has anyone
> heard of Fp. Gardneri
> > (Nignuridnus Makurdi)?  I received 3 pair labeled
> as such and only know of 
> > Fp.
> > Gardneri (Makurdi).  Thank you all for any
> information you can give  me. 
> > Ed Brandt
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