Tahuantinsuyoa

Inca stone cichlid ( Tahuantinsuyoa macantzatza ), male

Tahuantinsuyoa is a genus of South American cichlids. The range of the genus includes the Río Aguaytia and the Río Pachitea, two tributaries of the Río Ucayali, which in turn is one of the two source rivers of the Amazon in Peru. The genus name comes from the Quechua and was the name of the Incas for their empire ( Tawantinsuyu " Empire of the four directions ").

Features

Tahuantinsuyoa species are rather small cichlids and reach body lengths of 8 to 12 cm. Females are slightly smaller. A characteristic feature of the genus are four pores of the sensory system on each half of the mandible and a disordered (not arranged in rows ) of scales before the dorsal fin. The body is elongated flattened oval and laterally, the color light gray with a dark spot on the body sides, a dark bar below eye, and another in the neck. Sides of head and body sides are covered with golden or bluish shiny dots that are arranged in irregular longitudinal rows.

System

The genus is closely related to Bujurquina and forms of this genus and Andinoacara the Andinoacarina subtribes within the tribe Cichlasomatini. From Bujurquina to Tahuantinsuyoa distinctions made by only one (front ) joint between palatine and ethmoid (two in Bujurquina ).

Species

So far, two very similar species have been described, the outside can be distinguished only on the head drawing:

• Tahuantinsuyoa chipi Kullander, 1991
• Inca stone cichlid ( Tahuantinsuyoa macantzatza ), Kullander, 1986

Reproduction

Similar Bujurquina the Tahuantinsuyoa species are Larvophile mouthbrooders. The eggs are initially stored as Substratlaichern on a portable Substral such as leaves or wood chips, then put the hatched larvae after about three days of the parents, at first only by the female, and later by the male, in his mouth.