Astatotilapia burtoni (Günther, 1894)
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
Astatotilapia burtoni is a species of fish in the family Cichlidae.
It is found in Lake Tanganyika and its surrounding waterways, including parts of Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Zambia.
Its natural habitats are rivers, intermittent rivers, swamps, freshwater lakes, freshwater marshes, intermittent freshwater marshes, and inland deltas.
Astatotilapia burtoni has been used as a model organism to study the behaviors and physical systems of cichlids, including their development and embryogenesis. Moreover, the phylogenetic position of this particular species makes it an ideal model system for comparative genomic research. A. burtoni belongs under the haplochromines, which is the lineage of cichlids with the most species, and has been discovered to be a sister group to both the Lake Victoria region superflock (which has about 600 species) and the species flock of Lake Malawi (which has about 1,000 species).
Wikipedia contributors, Astatotilapia burtoni; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T19:04:37.668767+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Astatotilapia burtoni (Günther, 1894)
- Name authority
- (Günther, 1894)
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Cichliformes
- Family
- Cichlidae
- Genus
- Astatotilapia
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: no · Freshwater: yes · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderCichliformes
- familyCichlidae Bonaparte, 1835
- subfamilyPseudocrenilabrinae Fowler, 1934
- genusAstatotilapia Pellegrin, 1904
- speciesAstatotilapia burtoni (Günther, 1894)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Astatotilapia. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Astatotilapia tchadensis Trape, 2016 | CichlidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Astatotilapia calliptera (Günther, 1894) | CichlidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Astatotilapia flaviijosephi (Lortet, 1883) | CichlidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Astatotilapia swynnertoni (Boulenger, 1907) | CichlidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Astatotilapia tweddlei Jackson, 1985 | CichlidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Haplochromis burtoni (Günther, 1894) (Günther, 1894) | synonym |
| Tilapia burtoni (Günther, 1894) (Günther, 1894) | synonym |
| Tilapia nadinae Borodin, 1931 Borodin, 1931 | synonym |
| Chromis burtoni Günther, 1894 Günther, 1894 | synonym |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=991221 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:686ZQ. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.