African cichlid fish genera (Pseudocrenilabrinae): counts of vertebrae, supraneurals, dorsal and anal pterygiophores; pterygiophore insertion patterns

This is the first survey in cichlids of the considerable variation in
numbers of vertebrae, supraneurals, and dorsal- and anal-fin supports
(pterygiophores), as well as the patterns with which the pterygiophores
insert between the neural or hemal spines. The study includes some 1700
specimens of nearly 400 cichlid species. Focusing on the largest
subfamily, the African cichlids or Pseudocrenilabrinae, the survey
furnishes data from species in all but one of its 166 genera. Limited data
from species in the other cichlid subfamilies (Etroplinae,
Ptychochrominae, and Cichlinae) and from the related leaffishes,
Polycentridae, are also presented. The character complex here surveyed is
a promising source of taxonomically and phylogenetically informative
characteristics distinguishing or uniting cichlid taxa at multiple
hierarchical levels, from species through subfamily. This reference set of
novel character data can also inform paleontological studies of African
cichlids. These attributes are skeletal features potentially available for
study in well preserved fossils and may help determine their correct
taxonomic placement.