A new species ofSindacharax(Teleostei: Characidae) from Lothagam, Kenya, and some implications for the genus

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Abstract
Hundreds of bone elements and teeth were recovered between 1990 and 1993 from the late Miocene-Pliocene site of Lothagam, in northern Kenya. One of the fossils found in deposits dated slightly younger than 4 my was the occluded upper and lower jaw of Sindacharax, an extinct characid. Sindacharax had previously primarily been known from isolated teeth, and this recovery provides much-needed information on the morphology of the dentaries, premaxillae, and position of teeth. The jaws have been referred to a new species, Sindacharax greenwoodi. Sindacharax greenwoodi differs primarily from the other two species of Sindacharax by clearly distinguishable tooth shape and cusp patterns. While cusped ridges on the teeth are the dominant character of the genus Sindacharax, the “discovery” of cusped ridges on teeth of a little-known modern species, Alestes stuhlmanni, suggests that either Sindacharax be subsumed under Alestes, or, more likely, that A. stuhlmanni be transferred to Sindacharax.

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