Scheel's Letters: Killie Letter 10 from June 1965
courtesy of
ARK - Arizona Rivulin Keepers
The Scheel Letters, No. 51
Killie Letter 10 from June 1965
In this issue of the Killie Letters I should like to inform you on the many different
sorts of crossings that I prepared and have studied since 1957, although much of the
information on these crossings has already been given in previous issues of these
letters. Also I should like to inform you on the background on which the crossings
were prepared as some of the findings that were disclosed from the crossings might
be useful in the systematics and the taxonomy of Rivulins and also in the general
keeping and breeding of these fishes.
For several reasons that should not be discussed here, this rather comprehensive
work could not be delivered to you as a print containing the many photos of the
species used for these crossings and of the male hybrids. None of the information
given to you in this issue of Killie Letters is "restricted" in any way and for
this reason all receivers of these letters are free to use the information for
their own publications on Cyprinodonts. If you consider the information herein
given as important to zoologists or aquarists, you are free to prepare manifoldings
by printing or duplicating. If for such work pictures are needed I will be glad to
supply you with the black-white photos that you want. I planned to publish up to 85
such photos to improve the text.
I have prepared this issue of Killie Letters in such a way that it can be used
independently of the preceding eight or nine issues of these letters, as I have
no spare copies of these letters. I am, however, informed that the AKA (American
Killifish Association) will print the Killie Letters 1-8 this year and that they
will distribute the copies to their members.
In private correspondence on Old World Rivulins, in crossing reports, in notes on
various species etc. it is useful to have codes for each species. The use of codes
makes all sorts of writing, marking etc. much easier. For West African Rivulins I
have worked out the following codes. These codes are built up from the three first
letters of the species name in zoological taxonomy, if such a code covers one form
only. Codes for forms that have names such as "rubrofascium", "rubroreticulatus"
or "rubrostictum" become these codes: RUF, RUR, RUS.
In the following review of the codes that I use, I have used codes composed by
capital letters for "apparently good species" only, whereas names that are ill-defined
or probably synonyms are written in ordinary letters. If the particular species
has been used in the crossings, the code is underlined, and in those cases that
I have seen preserved or live individuals of a form that have not been used in
crossings, the underlining of the code is broken.
For ill-defined names and probable synonyms, I refer to the species which probably
comes closest: mat = (FAS), indicating that "mat" is a close relative of FAS, or
bit = BIV? indicating that "bit" probably is a synonym for BIV, or inf = SEX saying
that "inf" is found to be a synonym for SEX.
List of Codes for Zoological Names used in this Letter
acu = Epiplatys acutidacudatus (Pellegrin) 1913 = SEN
ahl = Aphyosemion calliurum ahli (Myers) 1933 = CAL?
ANN = Epiplatys annulatus (Boulenger) 1915
ans = Epiplatys ansorgei (Boulenger) 1911 = ???
ARN = Aphyosemion (Fundulopanchax) arnoldi (Boulenger) 1911
AUS = Aphyosemion australe (Rachow) 1921
BAT = Aphyosemion (Fundulopanchax) batesii (Boulenger) 1911
bau = Epiplatys baudoni (Pellegrin) 1922 = ???
bea = Aphyosemion (Fundulopanchax) beauforti (Ahl) 1924 = (GUL)
bel = Aphyosemion bellicauda (Ahl) 1924 = CAM?
BIF = Epiplatys bifasciatus (Steindachner) 1881
bit = Aphyosemion bitaeniatus (Ahl) 1924 = BIV?
BIV = Aphyosemion bivittatum (L÷nnberg) 1895
bou = Epiplatys boulengeri (Pellegrin) 1926 = MUF
bru = Aphyosemion brucei (Boulenger) 1911 = GAR?
bua = Aphyosemion bualanus (Ahl) 1924 = (elb)
cab = Aphyosemion calabaricum (Ahl) 1936 = LIB
CAL = Aphyosemion calliurum (Boulenger) 1911
CAM = Aphyosemion cameronense (Boulenger) 1903
car = Aphyosemion carnapi (Ahl) 1924 = CAM?
cas = Aphyosemion castaneum (Myers) 1924 = DEC?
CHA = Epiplatys chaperi (Sauvage) 1882
CHE = Epiplatys chevalieri (Pellegrin) 1922
chi = Epiplatys chinchoxianus (Ahl) 1924 = MAC?
chr = Aphyosemion christyi (Boulenger) 1920 = DEC?
CIN = Aphyosemion (Fundulopanchax) cinnamomeum (Clausen) 1963
COE = Aphyosemion coeruleum (Boulenger) 1915
COG = Aphyosemion cognatum (Meinken) 1951
con = Aphyosemion congicum (Ahl) 1924 = (COG)
DAG = Epiplatys dageti (Poll) 1953
DEC = Aphyosemion decorsei (Pellegrin) 1904 (types seen)
dor = Epiplatys dorsalis (Ahl) 1938 = FAS?
DUB = Epiplatys duboisi (Poll) 1953
elb = Aphyosemion elberti (Ahl) 1924 = (RUF)?
ELE = Aphyosemion elegans (Boulenger) 1901
esc = Aphyosemion escherichi (Ahl) 1924 = (CAM)
EXI = Aphyosemion exiguus (Boulenger) 1911
fal = Aphyosemion fallax (Ahl) 1935 = GUL?
FAS = Epiplatys fasciolatus (G_nther) 1866
FER = Aphyosemion ferranti (Boulenger) 1910
FIL = Aphyosemion (Fundulopanchax) filamentosum (Meinken) 1933
FLA = Aplocheilichthys flavipinnis (Meinken) 1932
GAM = Fundulusoma gambiensis (Svensson) 1934
GAR = Aphyosemion (Fundulopanchax) gardneri (Boulenger) 1911
ger = Aphyosemion roloffi geryi (Lambert) 1958 = (ROL)
GRA = Epiplatys grahami (Boulenger) 1911
GUI = Aphyosemion (Callopanchax) guineense (Daget) 1954
GUL = Aphyosemion (Fundulopanchax) gulare (Boulenger) 1907
gus = Aphyosemion gustavi (Ahl) 1924 = bea
hol = Aphyosemion bivittatum hollyi (Myers) 1933 = BIV?
inf = Epiplatys infrafasciatus (G_nther) 1866 = SEX
jac = Aphyosemion jacobi (Ahl) 1928 = EXI?
jau = Aphyosemion jaundensis (Ahl) 1924 = EXI?
kiy = Nothobranchius (?) kiyawensis (Ahl) 1928
LAB = Aphyosemion labarrei (Poll) 1952
LAM = Epiplatys lamottei (Daget) 1954
LIB = Aphyosemion liberiense (Boulenger) 1908
lob = Aphyosemion loboanus (Ahl) 1924 = ???
leo = Epiplatys sexfasciatus leonensis (Ahl) 1938 = FAS
LOE = Aphyosemion loennbergii (Boulenger) 1903
lol = Aphyosemion loloensis (Ahl) 1928 = lob?
LON = Epiplatys longiventralis (Boulenger) 1911
LOU = Aphyosemion lujae louessensis (Pellegrin) 1931
LUJ = Aphyosemion lujae (Boulenger) 1911
MAC = Epiplatys macrostigma (Boulenger) 1911
MAE = Aphyosemion maeseni (Poll) 1941
mag = Aphyosemion margaretae (Fowler) 1936 = (COG)
mar = Epiplatys maroni (Boulenger) = SEN
mat = Epiplatys matlocki (Fowler) 1950 = (FAS)
mei = Aphyosemion meinkeni (Myers) 1933 = CAM?
mel = Aphyosemion melanteron (Fowler) 1950 = LIB?
mic = Aphyosemion microstomus (Ahl) 1924 = CAM?
muc = Aphyosemion multicolor (Meinken) 1930 = BIV?
MUF = Epiplatys multifasciatus (Boulenger) 1913
nde = Epiplatys ndelensis (Fowler) 1949 = BIF
NIC = Epiplatys nigricans (Boulenger) 1913
NIG = Aphyosemion (Fundulopanchax) nigerianum (Clausen) 1963
nii = Aphyosemion nigri (Ahl) 1935 = ???
nim = Epiplatys nigromarginatus (Ahl) 1928 = GRA?
nor = Aphyosemion normani (Ahl) 1928 (Epiplatys ??) = ???
nyo = Epiplatys nyongensis (Ahl) 1928 = lob?
obs = Aphyosemion obscurus (Ahl) 1924 = CAM?
oes = Aphyosemion oeseri (Ahl) 1928 no type, no description
ogo = Aphyosemion lujae ogoensis (Pellegrin) 1930 = STR?
OLB = Epiplatys olbrechtsi (Poll) 1941
orn = Epiplatys ornatus (Ahl) 1928 = GRA?
pap = Aphyosemion pappenheimi (Ahl) 1924 = BIV?
pas = Aphyosemion pascheni (Ahl) 1928 = CAM?
PET = Aphyosemion petersi (Sauvage) 1882
pol = Aphyosemion polychromus (Ahl) 1924 = AUS
pre = Aphyosemion preussi (Ahl) 1924 = CAM?
rig = Aphyosemion riggenbachi (Ahl) 1924 = BIV?
ROL = Aphyosemion roloffi (Ahl) 1938
RUF = Aphyosemion rubrofascium (Clausen) 1963
RUR = Nothobranchius rubroreticulatus (Blanche & Milton) 1960
rus = Aphyosemion rubrostictum (Ahl) 1924 = BIV?
san = Epiplatys sangmelinensis (Ahl) 1928 = ???
sch = Aphyosemion schoutedeni (Boulenger) 1920 = DEC?
sre = Aphyosemion schreineri (Ahl) 1935 = bea
sen = Epiplatys senegalensis (Steindachner) 1870 = SPI
SEX = Epiplatys sexfasciatus (Gill) 1863
SHE = Epiplatys chaperi sheljuzhkoi (Poll) 1953
sin = Epiplatys singa (Boulenger) 1899 = MAC?
SJO = Aphyosemion sjoestedti (Arnold) 1911
sjo = Aphyosemion sjoestedti (Loennberg) 1895 (type seen) = COE
SPI = Epiplatys spilargyreius (Dumeril) 1861 (types seen)
spl = Aphyosemion splendidum (Pellegrin) 1930 (types) = BAT?
spm = Epiplatys spillmanni (Arnoult) 1960 (types seen) = SHE?
spp = Aphyosemion splendopleure (Meinken) 1930 = BIV?
SPU = Aphyosemion spurelli (Boulenger) 1913
ste = Epiplatys steindachneri (Svensson) 1934 = BIF
str = Aphyosemion striatum (Boulenger) 1911 = ???
sup = Epiplatys superbus (Ahl) 1924 = ???
tae = Epiplatys taeniatus (Pfaff) 1933 (type seen) = BIF
tes = Aphyosemion tessmanni (Ahl) 1924 = elb?
THI = Fundulosoma thierryi (Ahl) 1924
unc = Epiplatys unicolor (Ahl) 1924 (Aphyosemion?) = EXI?
uns = Aphyosemion unistrigatus (Ahl) 1935 = BIV?
vex = Aphyosemion vexillifer (Meinken) 1929 = CAL?
wal = Aphyosemion walkeri (Boulenger) 1911 = SPU?