In 2010 there were some changes to Bichir literature not many people have been aware of.
The following are described species only.
The giant variant of P. senegalus has now been described as a new species, a subspecies to P. senegalus, forming the Senegalus complex. Both are now:
Polypterus senegalus senegalus,
P. senegalus meridionales.
Polypterus palmas polli is no longer a member of the Palmas complex and is now known as just
Polypterus polli.
Polypterus endlicheri congicus was found to be a closer relative to P. bichir bichir and P. bichir lapradei and is no longer an Endlicheri subspecies disbanding the Endlicheri complex. They are now both known as just:
Polypterus endlicheri,
P. congicus.
P. delhezi is a transitional species between upper and lower jaw.
P. mokelembembe is the "sister species" to all living Bichirs.
Most of the journals which published these changes are open access, although some are closed access and have to be requested by emailing the researchers.
Here is one study: http://bmcevolbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2148-10-21
Here are the factsheets below acknowledging these changes, please download and spread the message. Hopefully it'll reach some of the online websites such as FishBase and SeriouslyFish, so they can update.
Here is the video alternative to the factsheets:
Sizes and finlets too have been updated, I've noticed some websites still report P. ansorgii to max at 10 inches. We now know they can get 4 times that size.
The following are described species only.
The giant variant of P. senegalus has now been described as a new species, a subspecies to P. senegalus, forming the Senegalus complex. Both are now:
Polypterus senegalus senegalus,
P. senegalus meridionales.
Polypterus palmas polli is no longer a member of the Palmas complex and is now known as just
Polypterus polli.
Polypterus endlicheri congicus was found to be a closer relative to P. bichir bichir and P. bichir lapradei and is no longer an Endlicheri subspecies disbanding the Endlicheri complex. They are now both known as just:
Polypterus endlicheri,
P. congicus.
P. delhezi is a transitional species between upper and lower jaw.
P. mokelembembe is the "sister species" to all living Bichirs.
Most of the journals which published these changes are open access, although some are closed access and have to be requested by emailing the researchers.
Here is one study: http://bmcevolbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2148-10-21
Here are the factsheets below acknowledging these changes, please download and spread the message. Hopefully it'll reach some of the online websites such as FishBase and SeriouslyFish, so they can update.
Here is the video alternative to the factsheets:
Sizes and finlets too have been updated, I've noticed some websites still report P. ansorgii to max at 10 inches. We now know they can get 4 times that size.
