A new species of tilapiine cichlid from the Pliocene, Middle Awash, Ethiopia

The Middle Awash sites in Ethiopia, known for the find of one of the earlie st known hominids-dagger Ardipithecus ramidus-have also yielded many fish a nd other vertebrate fossils. The Middle Awash locality has sites ranging fr om late Miocene through to the Pleistocene, and provides the first extensiv e record of fossil fish in Ethiopia. This ichthyofauna includes many specim ens of a tilapiine cichlid referable to the living genus Oreochromis. These cichlids are here described as a new species, dagger Oreochromis (Oreochro mis) harrisae, based on several osteological characters. The relationships of tilapiine cichlids are not well established. Few osteological studies of tilapiine cichlids have been done, and those that have tend to concentrate on pharyngeal characters that are phylogenetically useful at the generic a nd specific level, but not as useful at higher levels. The characters used in this paper may be useful to determine relationships among genera within the Tilapiini.