Pisces , Perciformes , Cichlidae , Apistogramma borellii ( Regan , 1906 ) : First record for state of Rio Grande do Sul , southern Brazil

222 Figure 1. Apistogramma borellii (MCP 44519) [27.2 mm. SL] captured in state of Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil. The South American genus Apistogramma Regan comprises small cichlid fishes (SL length less than 60 mm.) and is one of the most species rich genera of cichlids (Kullander 2003). Currently, there are almost 70 valid species within Apistogramma (Staeck and Schindler 2008), and many undescribed species are recognized (Kullander 2003). Approximately 36 species of the genus occur in Brazil (Buckup and Teixeira 2007), mostly in drainages of the Amazon River basin. According to literature there are no references of occurrence of the genus Apistogramma in watersheds of the state of Rio Grande do Sul in southern Brazil (Kullander 2003; Buckup et al. 2007). Apistogramma borellii (Regan, 1906) whose type locality is Carandazinho drainage, upper Paraguay River, Mato Grosso in Brazil is distributed in Paraguay River basin, and its southernmost record is in Corrientes River, a tributary of the middle Parana River, Argentina (Kullander 1982, 2003). Five specimens of A. borellii (Figure 1) (19.2 27.2 mm. SL) were collected on October 13th, 2002, in state of Abstract: This note extends the distribution of the dwarf cichlid fish Apistogramma borellii, and is the first record of the species, and the genus for the state of Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil, suggesting that the fish diversity of wetlands, although relatively high, is still poorly investigated in southern Brazil. 1 Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos, Laboratório de Ecologia e Conservação de Ecossistemas Aquáticos (LECEA). Avenida Unisinos 950, Bairro Cristo Rei. CEP 93022-000. São Leopoldo, RS, Brazil. 2 Museu de Ciências e Tecnologia da Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Laboratório de Ictiologia. Avenida Ipiranga 6681, prédio 40. CEP 90619-900. Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil. * Corresponding author. E-mail: lelanes@gmail.com Luis Esteban Krause Lanés 1*, Leonardo Maltchik 1 and Carlos Alberto S. de Lucena 2 Pisces, Perciformes, Cichlidae, Apistogramma borellii (Regan, 1906): First record for state of Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil

The South American genus Apistogramma Regan comprises small cichlid fishes (SL length less than 60 mm.) and is one of the most species rich genera of cichlids (Kullander 2003).Currently, there are almost 70 valid species within Apistogramma (Staeck and Schindler 2008), and many undescribed species are recognized (Kullander 2003).Approximately 36 species of the genus occur in Brazil (Buckup and Teixeira 2007), mostly in drainages of the Amazon River basin.According to literature there are no references of occurrence of the genus Apistogramma in watersheds of the state of Rio Grande do Sul in southern Brazil (Kullander 2003;Buckup et al. 2007).
Apistogramma borellii (Regan, 1906) whose type locality is Carandazinho drainage, upper Paraguay River, Mato Grosso in Brazil is distributed in Paraguay River basin, and its southernmost record is in Corrientes River, a tributary of the middle Parana River, Argentina (Kullander 1982(Kullander , 2003)).
Five specimens of A. borellii (Figure 1) (19.2 -27.2 mm.SL) were collected on October 13 th , 2002, in state of Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil (Figure 2A) at a small tributary floodplains of Uruguay River basin (Figure 2B), during a field trip of a research project conducted by the Laboratório de Ecologia e Conservação de Ecossistemas Aquáticos, Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos, aimed to know the diversity of wetlands in southern Brazil.
Although a review of the species considering all its distribution has not been performed, no differences were found between samples collected from the Uruguay River (MCP 44519) and the Paraguay River drainage (MCP 11622).
The specimens collected by hand nets (D-shaped, 30 cm. width) in littoral zone of wetland, were fixed in 10 % formalin, later transferred into 70 % ethanol.Measurements were made with an electronic digital caliper reading to the nearest 0.1 mm., and material is vouched in Museu de Ciências e Tecnologia da Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre (MCP 44519).
As a complement of our record, we found a lot of A. borellii from Fundação Zoobotânica do Rio Grande do Sul (13 specimens -MCN 16749) obtained in Biological Reserve of Banhado São Donato, Itaqui municipality, RS, Uruguay River basin.
Apistogramma borellii is distinguished from A. commbrae (Regan, 1906), the other species of the genus with which it is often in sympatry in La Plata River basin, by the color (metallic blue) and by the lack of 2 or 3 longitudinal discontinuous thin bands in the lower half of the flank (Kullander 1982, Casciota et al. 2005).
Recently Zarucki et al. (2010) reported the occurrence of A. borellii in Uruguay River floodplains in Artigas Department, Uruguay.With this record, there are two species of Apistogramma in the Uruguay River basin, A. borellii and A. commbrae.Probably A. commbrae also occurs in Rio Grande do Sul, because recent studies registered in that state species previously known from other localities, and hydrographic systems (Lanés et al. 2008;2010).This note extends the distribution of A. borellii, and is the first record of the species at the state of Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil.Finally this record suggests that the fish diversity of wetlands, although relatively high, is still poorly investigated in southern Brazil.This is an alarming fact, considering that these ecosystems are the habitat of endemic and endangered species (Volcan et al. 2009;2010), and 90 % of wetland systems of the region have already been lost due to anthropogenic activities (Maltchik et al. 2010).

Figure 2 .
Figure 2. (A) Map showing the occurrence of Apistogramma borellii in Uruguay River basin, state of Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil in South American context.Modified from NEODAT (2010).(B) Map detailing the occurrence of the species in small tributary floodplains of Uruguay River basin, municipality of Uruguaiana, state of Rio Grande do Sul.Author: H. P. B. Neto.Source: Modified from Embrapa Monitoramento por Satélite (2005) and FEPAM (2005).

Figure 3 .
Figure 3. Sampling site of Apistogramma borellii at small tributary floodplains of Uruguay River basin, Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil.