title: Revision of the South American genusTetragonopterusCuvier, 1816 (Teleostei: Characidae) with description of four new species.
abstract: The systematics of the characid genus Tetragonopterus is reviewed based on morphological and molecular data of specimens from its entire geographical range encompassing all major South American river drainages from Orinoco basin southward to the La Plata basin. Eight previously described species (T. anostomus, T. araguaiensis, T. argenteus, T. carvalhoi, T. chalceus, T. denticulatus, T. georgiae n. comb., and T. rarus) are recognized as valid, four of which are redescribed (T. argenteus, T. chalceus, T. georgiae, and T. rarus), and four new species from the Brazilian Shield in the Amazon and São Francisco river basins are herein described. We also provide evidence for the reallocation of Moenkhausia georgiae into Tetragonopterus and recognize T. akamai as junior synonym of T. anostomus. DNA barcodes of Tetragonopterus revealed genetic support for each recognized species and provided valuable population-level information within T. argenteus, T. chalceus, T. georgiae, and T. rarus.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Morfologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Estadual Paulista, R. Prof. Dr. Antonio C. W. Zanin, s/n, Rubião Jr, 18618-689, Botucatu, São Paulo, Brazil.. gabriel_biota@yahoo.com.br.
authors.forename: Gabriel S C
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: Bruno F
authors.initials: BF
authors.lastname: Melo
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.forename: Ricardo C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Benine
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D060126:Characidae / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000145:classification*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D010802:Phylogeny; D045483:Rivers; D013020:South America
keywords: Pisces, Amazon basin, Characiformes, DNA barcode, Moenkhausia, Neotropical region