Type locality vs distribution

Mol_PMB · Post by **Mol_PMB** » 13 Dec 2014, 13:33

I have recently been trying to find out more about the natural habitat of my group of and I have come up against a puzzle in the online information.

Both Planet Catfish and Seriously Fish give the 'type locality' of Brochis splendens as 'Rio Tocantins'. My understanding is that this is where the formal scientific description of the species describes as its home.

However, when I search the cat-e-log for species occurring in 'Tocantins', Brochis splendens does not appear in the list.

Similarly, if I search Fishbase by ecosystem 'Para-Tocantins' the Brochis splendens does not appear on the list.

So does Brochis splendens live in the Rio Tocantins or not? I am confused.

I'm not sure if this is because I am misunderstanding the meaning of the term 'type locality', or whether the online information is incomplete, or whether the habitat of the fish has changed since it was first identified, or whether there is a mistake somewhere.

My apologies if I'm missing something obvious here, but if anyone could explain this, it would be much appreciated.

Many thanks,
Paul

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YouTube · Post by **Jools** » 13 Dec 2014, 13:43

The type locality is where the holotype (roughly, the individual chosen to represent the species) was from. The distribution is all known occurrences of that species.

Hope that helps?

Jools

Mol_PMB · Post by **Mol_PMB** » 13 Dec 2014, 14:05

Thanks Jools.
Therefore, shouldn't the type locality be included within the distribution? Which in this case it appears not to be included, in either the Cat-e-log or in Fishbase?
(I appreciate Fishbase is outside your remit, of course)

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Post by **Shane** » 14 Dec 2014, 13:38

Paul, it is in two different ways... both by drainage and political entity. The Tocantins is a tributary of the Amazon and is in Brazil. It can also be found in the Colombian Amazon.

While breaking down distribution in the cat-e-log by specific tributaries would be awesome, it would also require Jools to hire a team of data entry folks for a year to get it done.
-Shane

Mol_PMB · Post by **Mol_PMB** » 14 Dec 2014, 13:57

Thanks again Shane.
My apologies, I think it is my misunderstanding about how the cat-e-log search function worked. I thought that if I searched for species in the Tocantins it would list ALL the catfish species that live in the Tocantins. But perhaps it just tells me all the species that ONLY live in the Toncantins?

Keep up the good work
Regards
Paul

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