Fossil freshwater fishes and the biogeography of Northern South America

• Grant number: 14/11558-5
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate (Direct)
• Effective date (Start): March 01, 2015
• Effective date (End): March 31, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Paleozoology
• Principal researcher: Mario Cesar Cardoso de Pinna
• Grantee: Gustavo Adolfo Ballen Chaparro
• Home Institution: Museu de Zoologia (MZ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 16/02253-1 - Paleoichthyology of the Sincelejo formation (late Pliocene) in northern Colombia, BE.EP.DD

Abstract

The main goal of the present project is to explore the biogeography of Northern South America (NSA) from a paleontological perspective and the interplay of the fossil record and the interrelationships among extant taxa as a way to infer past drainage connections and their relevance for explaining the faunal relationships among drainages in NSA. This portion of the continent present several important drainages, all of them related historically to the core Amazon/Orinoco/Guyanas, but with highly endemic and poor faunas. Such high endemism and small richness seems to be the product of tectonic events that shaped both the geography and the drainages of NSA, therefore triggering speciation and extinction events in this part of the continent. The fossil record is going to be used in the present project in order to address the question of drainage connections among cis- and trans-Andean NSA during the early Pliocene, i.e., since the last 2 Ma. This work is unique in that the fossil collections herein available are largely unstudied and are crucial for understanding the tectonic and faunal evolution of NSA during the early Pliocene. In the same way, it completes the temporal record in NSA from the middle Miocene to the Pliocene, being complementary with earlier works with important fossil faunas such as La Venta in Colombia and Urumaco in Venezuela. It is expected that this work will provide a new paleogeographic framework, as well as further information to be used in molecular clock studies, that coupled with geologic information are the base for understanding the evolution of freshwater faunas in the presence of complex geological processes. (AU)

Scientific publications

(12)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

ABRAHAO, VITOR P.; BALLEN, GUSTAVO A.; PASTANA, MURILO N. L.; SHIBATTA, OSCAR A. Ontogeny of the brain of Microglanis garavelloi Shibatta and Benine 2005 (Teleostei: Siluriformes: Pseudopimelodidae). Journal of Morphology, v. 282, n. 4 JAN 2021. Web of Science Citations: 0.

PEIXOTO, LUIZ A. W.; PASTANA, MURILO N. L.; BALLEN, GUSTAVO A. New species of glass knifefish genus Eigenmannia (Gymnotiformes: Sternopygidae) with comments on the morphology and function of the enlarged cephalic lateral-line canals of Sternopygidae. Journal of Fish Biology, v. 98, n. 1, p. 142-153, JAN 2021. Web of Science Citations: 0.

URBANO-BONILLA, ALEXANDER; BALLEN, GUSTAVO A. A new species of Chaetostoma (Siluriformes: Loricariidae) from the Orinoco basin with comments on Amazonian species of the genus in Colombia. Journal of Fish Biology, v. 98, n. 4, SI JAN 2021. Web of Science Citations: 0.

BALLEN, GUSTAVO A. New Records of the Genus Sphyraena (Teleostei: Sphyraenidae) from the Caribbean with Comments on Dental Characters in the Genus. JOURNAL OF VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY, v. 40, n. 6 DEC 2020. Web of Science Citations: 0.

BALLEN, GUSTAVO A.; MORENO-BERNAL, JORGE W. NEW RECORDS OF THE ENIGMATIC NEOTROPICAL FOSSIL FISH ACREGOLIATH RANCII (TELEOSTEI INCERTAE SEDIS) FROM THE MIDDLE MIOCENE HONDA GROUP OF COLOMBIA. AMEGHINIANA, v. 56, n. 6, p. 431-440, MAR 2020. Web of Science Citations: 0.

BALLEN, GUSTAVO A. Nomenclature of the Sphyraenidae (Teleostei: Carangaria): A synthesis of fossil- and extant-based classification systems. Zootaxa, v. 4686, n. 3, p. 397-408, OCT 16 2019. Web of Science Citations: 0.

TERAN, GUILLERMO E.; BALLEN, GUSTAVO A.; ALONSO, FELIPE; AGUILERA, GASTON; MARCOS MIRANDE, J. A new species of Farlowella (Siluriformes: Loricariidae) from the upper Bermejo River, La Plata River basin, northwestern Argentina. Neotropical Ichthyology, v. 17, n. 2 2019. Web of Science Citations: 0.

BALLEN, GUSTAVO A. Tooth row variation in tadpoles of Dendropsophus labialis (Anura: Hylidae: Dendropsophini) and the evolution of oral morphology in the genus. CALDASIA, v. 40, n. 2, p. 216-231, JUL-DEC 2018. Web of Science Citations: 0.

URBANO-BONILLA, ALEXANDER; BALLEN, GUSTAVO A.; HERRERA-R, GUIDO A.; ZAMUDIO, JHON; HERRERA-COLLAZOS, EDGAR E.; DONASCIMIENTO, CARLOS; PRADA-PEDREROS, SAUL; MALDONADO-OCAMPO, JAVIER A. Fishes of the Cusiana River (Meta River basin, Colombia), with an identification key to its species. ZOOKEYS, n. 733, p. 65-97, JAN 26 2018. Web of Science Citations: 1.

BALLEN, GUSTAVO A.; URBANO-BONILLA, ALEXANDER; ZAMUDIO, JHON E. Farlowella mitoupibo, a new species of stick catfish from the upper Guaviare River, Orinoco basin, Colombia (Teleostei: Loricariidae). Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters, v. 27, n. 4, p. 325-332, DEC 2016. Web of Science Citations: 3.

BALLEN, GUSTAVO A.; URBANO-BONILLA, ALEXANDER; MALDONADO-OCAMPO, JAVIER A. Description of a new species of the genus Chaetostoma from the Orinoco River drainage with comments on Chaetostoma milesi Fowler, 1941 (Siluriformes: Loricariidae). Zootaxa, v. 4105, n. 2, p. 181-197, APR 20 2016. Web of Science Citations: 4.

BALLEN, GUSTAVO A.; PASTANA, MURILO N. L.; PEIXOTO, LUIZ A. W. A new species of Farlowella (Siluriformes: Loricariidae) of the F. nattereri species-group from the rio Xingu basin, Mato Grosso, Brazil, with comments on Farlowella jauruensis, a poorly-known species from the upper rio Paraguai basin. Neotropical Ichthyology, v. 14, n. 3 2016. Web of Science Citations: 1.