Rosemary Lowe-McConnell died on December 22, 2014 at the age of 93. She was a pioneer in the study of fishes of the tropics. In a career that spanned nearly half a century, she worked in the African Great Lakes region and the Amazon basin in South America, focusing primarily on cichlids. For a more complete statement of her and Bussing’s contributions to ichthyology please Google search their names.
This issue of Cichlid News contains a wealth of information. Juan Miguel Artigas Azas provides an update in two parts, of recent research carried out on the cichlids and other species of the famous Cuatro Ciénegas (“four marshes”) Valley, Mexico. In Part 1, we are introduced to the desert cichlid Herichthys minckleyi and its curious trophic morphotypes.
The West African Pelvicachromis taeniatus has always been a favorite. However, its taxonomic history has been confusing. Recently (2014) Anton Lamboj and associates have published a revision of the P. taeniatus group. Anton reviews his recent work for us. Malagasy fish guru Paul Loiselle continues his discussion of cichlids of the genus Ptychochromis in Part 2 of his two-part article. Again, accompanied by wonderful photos of this unique group of primitive cichlids from Madagascar.
Magnus and Mikael Karlsson discuss the relationship of four “red” geographic variants of the genus Petrochromis that likely form a species group all closely-related to each other and to the recently described P. horii.
Regular contributor Willem Heijns shares his provocative thoughts on new trends in the cichlid hobby particularly as they apply to the wild type/wild-caught versus hybrid and line-bred controversies. His ideas and arguments are masterfully presented and definitely food for thought as our hobby reaches a crossroad.
We report that an eartheater presented earlier in these pages (Oct. 2012) by Oliver Lucanus, Geophagus sp. ‘Aripauna’, was recently described by Depra et al. 2014 as G. mirabilis. Mirabilis, in Latin meaning “marvelous, extraordinary” aptly describes this beautiful eartheater. As usual, we close with Laif DeMason’s regular ‘What’s New’.
Enjoy this issue and enjoy your cichlids!
