Two new species of Cyprinodon are described, both restricted to saline lakes on a single island in the Bahamas. Both species have unique morphological features and specialized diets that distinguish them from the third Cyprinodon species on San Salvador Island, C. variegatus, and all other pupfishes. Cyprinodon desquamator, n. sp., is a scale-eating specialist with a greatly enlarged lower jaw and elongated body. Cyprinodon brontotheroides, n. sp., is a hard-shelled prey specialist with a protruding nasal region encasing its upper jaw, a unique appendage within Cyprinodontiformes. Both specialist species occur in syntopy with C. variegatus and Gambusia hubbsi in several shallow, hypersaline lakes on San Salvador. Geological age estimates for these lakes place the age of this species flock at 10,000 years or less. Thus, in addition to Laguna Chichancanab, this study describes species within a second remarkable species flock of specialized Cyprinodon pupfishes.
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1 October 2013
A Remarkable Species Flock of Cyprinodon Pupfishes Endemic to San Salvador Island, Bahamas
Christopher H. Martin,
Peter C. Wainwright
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Adaptive radiation
Caribbean
ecological novelty
ecological speciation
pupfish
species description
species flock