The plight of freshwater fishes in southern Africa: addressing the

taxonomic impediment

Tweddle et al. (2009)

- about 215 described species - high regional endemism - many areas remain largely unexplored

Fig 1. Five major threat categories and their

established or potential interactive impact on

freshwater biodiversity. [Dudgeon et al. 2006]

Freshwater fishes have become increasingly imperiled by multiple impacts

Clark et al. (2009) • Barbus andrewi • Langvlei redfin? • Eerster redfin • Langvlei Galaxias?

Tweddle et al. (2009)

- most well studied region of southern Africa - diversity and distribution generally well known

Incomplete knowledge of diversity and distribution:

“taxonomic impediment”

Galaxias

Pseudobarbus Galaxias

Sandelia

Marcusenius

Many of the lineages are narrow range endemics

Chakona et al. (2013)

’Giant redfin’ – last refuges

Alien threatens CR fish in Protected Area? Values?

Swartz et al. (2007)

Pseudobarbus afer species complex

Chakona et al. (2013)

Sandelia capensis species complex

Galaxias zebratus species complex

Swartz et al. (in prep)

Hex River December 2007

Hex River March 2008

Nameless and vulnerable

Current taxonomy impedes conservation of freshwater fishes in southern

Africa

Humphry Greenwood 1992 “Since taxonomy and systematics are basic to all

ichthyological research, I would consider the latter situation (poverty of practicing taxonomists) to be one of the major

non-environmental threats to the world of fishes”

Greenwood, P.H. 1992. Are the major fish faunas well-known? Netherlands Journal of Zoology 42, 131-138.

Only five species of freshwater fishes

described from South Africa between 1997

and 2015

Waters & Cambray (1997)

What are the issues?

1. Reduced taxonomic capacity

2. State of type specimens and access

• Type specimens form the basis of any taxonomic investigation

– Most types are very old, many are no longer in good condition, others have

been lost

– Type material not readily accessible for researchers from developing

countries – most have been deposited in museums overseas

– DNA cannot be extracted from these specimens – sequences of types are

required to verify whether the taxon that one is looking at is indeed new

3. Challenges with accessing original descriptions

• Old literature difficult to find

– Any new description requires reference to original description

– Access to this literature is difficult for students and researchers from

developing countries

• Language barrier

– Many old descriptions are not in English

4. Vague original locality details

• Some type localities are vague

– Clear streams of the Cape

– Tugela River

• Lack of human capacity

5. Pitfalls of barcoding blindly

• Emphasis should be placed on generating reference topogenetypes

SAIAB’s Topotypes Project

• Identify all type localities of freshwater fishes and frogs described from SA

• Provide original descriptions (including any illustrations)

• Collect topotypic material (vouchers and tissues) – this includes synonyms

• Generate DNA barcodes of all topotypes

• Provide morphometric and meristic data of holotypes and topotypes

• Provide photos and X-rays of Holotypes/Syntypes/Neotypes

• Live colour pictures and x-rays of topotypes

• Photos, GPS coordinates and directions to type localities (Google maps)

• Capacity building

• All data will be made openly available

Acknowledgements • NRF-FBIP for funding

• SAIAB

• CapeNature, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency and the

Department of Economic Development and Environmental Affairs (Eastern Cape Province)

for sampling permits

• Riaan Van der Walt

• Richard Simbelani

• Land owners

Thank you

Giant redfin: Pic by Riaan Van der Walt