Seven new species of the killifish genus Rivulus (Cyprinodontiformes: Rivulidae) from the Paraná, Paraguay and upperAraguaia river basins, central Brazil

Seven new species of the Rivulus punctatus group collected during recent field studies in central Brazil are described. Rivulus dapazi n. sp., from the upper rio Correntes drainage, rio Paraguay basin, is diagnosed by a unique color pattern of the anal and caudal fins in males; R. cyanopterus n. sp., from the upper rio São Lourenço drainage, rio Paraguay basin, is diagnosed by a unique color pattern of the anal fin in both sexes; R. rossoi n. sp., from the rio Inhanduí drainage, rio Paraná basin, is diagnosed by a unique color pattern of the caudal fin in males and a reduced number of gill rakers on the first branchial arch; R. litteratus n. sp., from the upper rio Araguaia basin, is diagnosed by unique color patterns of flank in males and caudal fin in females; R. rutilicaudus n. sp., from the rio Verde drainage in Goiás, rio Paraná basin, is diagnosed by a unique color pattern of the caudal fin in females; R. scalaris n. sp., from the rio Sucuruí, rio Aporé, rio Correntes and rio Taquari drainages, rio Paraná basin, is diagnosed by a unique color pattern of the flank in males; and, R. egens n. sp., from the upper rio Verde drainage in Mato Grosso do Sul, rio Paraná basin, is distinguished by a combination of frontal E-scale pattern and the absence of red marks on the caudal fin in males. Combinations of other color patterns and morphological features, including number of scales of the longitudinal series, number of dorsal, anal, caudal and pectoral fin-rays, relative position of dorsal-fin origin and anal-fin rays, and number of vertebrae, are also useful in identification of the new species, but phylogenetic relationships among them are unknown at the present. A key to identification of species of Rivulus from the rio Paraná-Paraguay basin and adjacent headstreams is provided