WRIGHT AND PAGE: Taxonomic revision of Lake Tanganyikan Synodontis


Figure 21. Top Holotype of S. melanostictus, BMNH 1906.9.8.72, 290 mm TL, 237 mm SL. Bottom Holo-
type of S. nigromaculatus, BMNH 1905.11.10.10, 237 mm TL, 186 mm SL.


and mud bottoms, to a maximum depth of 150 m (Coulter
1991a).
 Diet. Nothing is known about the diet of this
species.
 Reproduction. Coulter (1991) cites Matthes
(1962) as reporting that gravid females S. melanostictus
were found to contain up to 3,000 eggs. The latter ref-
erence, however, includes no egg counts or other infor-
mation on the reproduction of S. melanostictus.
 Taxonomic Remarks. Synodontis nigro-
maculatus Boulenger was described from Lake
Bangweulu (Zambia) and has since been reported from
the Congo, Cunene, Limpopo, Luapula, Okovango, and
Zambezi Rivers, as well as Lakes Mweru and
Tanganyika (Boulenger 1905; Poll 1971). Some of these
populations (Congo and Limpopo Rivers, Lake
Tanganyika) have been described as new species or iden-


tified as other previously described species, only to be
synonymized with S. nigromaculatus in later works,
based on similarities in morphometric ratios (Boulenger
1923, Poll 1967, 1971). While the identity of specimens
from some drainages is questionable, we can be certain
that S. nigromaculatus occurs in Lake Bangweulu, and
probably also occurs in Lake Mweru and the Luapula
River, which joins the two lakes. Tanganyikan speci-
mens were therefore compared primarily to specimens
from these areas. These comparisons have shown that
Lake Tanganyikan specimens are diagnosible from S.
nigromaculatus.
 Synodontis melanostictus Boulenger was de-
scribed from the Lofu River (now the Lofubu), a tribu-
tary of Lake Tanganyika, and was distinguished from S.
nigromaculatus by having numerous, villous papillae on
the body (Boulenger 1906). Ricardo-Bertram (1940)