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seymouri, Aphyosemion Loiselle [P. V.] & Blair [D.] 1972:1, Fig. 1 [Journal of the American Killifish Association v. 8 (no. 1); ref. 7437] Small temporary pool south of the Accra-Ada Road midway between 54 and 55 miles markers, Accra Plains, Ghana. Holotype: BMNH 1970.9.16.6. Paratypes: BMNH 1970.9.16.7 (1), 1970.9.16.8-12 (5); USNM 205532 (8). •Synonym of Pronothobranchius kiyawensis (Ahl 1928) -- (Wildekamp et al. 1986:276 [ref. 6198]). •Synonym of Nothobranchius kiyawensis Ahl 1928 -- (Romand in Lévêque et al. 1992:616 [ref. 21590], Lazara 2001:222 [ref. 25711]). •Valid as Pronothobranchius seymouri (Loiselle & Blair 1972) --(Valdesalici 2013:30 [ref. 33090]). Current status: Valid as Pronothobranchius seymouri (Loiselle & Blair 1972). Nothobranchiidae. Distribution: Volta River drainage, Ghana. Habitat: freshwater.
Pronothobranchius was first defined as a subgenus of Nothobranchius by Radda (1969). Radda, considered valid both N. kiyawensis and N. gambiensis, reported similarities with Nothobranchius and Aphyosemion (Huber, 2013) and defined as type species Pronothobranchius kiyawensis. Scheel (1968) referred to P. kiyawensis as a member of the genus Aphyosemion or Fundolosoma, and P. gambiensis as a member of the genus Fundulosoma. Roloff (1974 a, b) made reference to P. seymouri as Aphyosemion seymouri but mentioned that it probably belongs in Fundulosoma. Scheel (1974) did not consider Pronothobranchius valid and placed all three species in the subgenus Fundulosoma. Parenti (1981) regarded Pronothobranchius a synonym of Nothobranchius. The genus was revalidated by Fröhlich (1981) with P. kiyawensis and P. seymouri valid and P. gambiensis a synonym of P. kiyawensis. Wildekamp (1983) also considered Pronothobranchius as valid but monotypic with P. seymouri and P. gambiensis synonymous with P. kiyawensis.
Radda (1987) agreed with Villwock's taxonomic conclusions at the species level but included the genus in the Aphyosemion kiyawense species-group, an opinion followed by Scheel (1990). Romand (1992) made reference only to Nothobranchius kiyawensis whereas van der Zee & Wildekamp (1994) listed it as P. kiyawensis while Seegers (1997) also mentioned P. kiyawensis in reference to the previous works of Scheel (1968, 1990) and Parenti (1981). Neumann (2008) once more repeated the view that Pronothobranchius Huber (2000) also considered Pronothobranchius to comprise the single species P. kiyawensis whereas Costa (2008) suggested all three of P. kiyawensis, P. gambiensis (wrongly reported as P. gambiense) and P. seymouri to be valid. contains only P. kiyawensis. In a molecular cladistic analysis focused on the genera Aphyosemion and Fundulopanchax,
Pronothobranchius was recovered as being closely related to Nothobranchius and Fundulosoma, these three representing a monophyletic clade (Murphy & Collier 1999). Pronothobranchius has subsequently been employed as an outgroup in phylogenetic studies of Nothobranchius (Shidlovskiy et al. 2010, Terzibasi et al. 2008, Wildekamp et al. 2009).