Rubroreticulatus: The name is derived from the Latin words ruber= deep red, purple; and reticulatus= spotted - in reference to the spotted colour pattern in males, which have distinctive deep-red-purple spots on dorsal and anal fins.

Blache & Miton, 1960 - - Poissons nouveaux du bassin du Tchad et du Bassin adjacent du Mayo Kebbi; III Cyprinodontidae - Cichlidae - Bull. Mus. Nat. Hist. Nat. (Paris); 20 Série, Tome 32; N° 3, 1960: 215-216.

Lake Chad drainage system. Road from Bougar near Koundoul (this locality is sometimes named Koundoun), near Fort Lamy, south of Djamena [15°09'E, 11°58'N], Chad, and from Bahr-Marako, also near Fort Lamy, but in Cameroon.

D. 16-20, A. 16-20, P. 18-20, V. 6,
29-34 scales in mid lateral line series, and 24-30 around body in front of Ventral.

Blache and Miton (1960) gave the description of the species as follows: The body height is included 2.6 (sexually mature female)-4.0 times in standard length, the head length 3.0-3.6 times in this same length. The head is 1.1-1.9 times as long as large, the superior part of the head is frontally flattened, then humped in the distal along a line running from the posterior end of the eyes. The snout is large, rounded, measuring 0.7-1.4 times the eye diameter. The mouth is directed upward, the lower jaw is protruding. The teeth are conical. The eye diameter is comprised 2.6 (juveniles)-4.4 times in head length and 1.1(juveniles)-2.8 times in the interorbital distance.

One counts 29-34 scales in the mid lateral line series, including those covering the basal portion of the Caudal and 24-30 scales around the body in front of the Ventral.

The Dorsal is composed of 16-20 rays and begins a little in front of the Anal or just above; its longest ray is 0.5-0.8 times the head length. The Anal is composed of 16-20 rays of which the longest one is 0.4-0.6 times the head length. The Pectoral, rounded or slightly truncated, is comprised 1.8-2.2 times in the head length and makes 1.4-2.0 times the length of the Ventral. The Pectoral does not reach the origin of the Ventral in females, but reaches it and even exceeds it in males. The caudal peduncle is 1.1-1.7 times longer than deep. The Caudal is rounded in females, sometimes slightly truncated in males.

One counts 11-13 branchiospines on the lower part of the first branchial arch and 2-4 in the upper part.

Number of vertebrae on 7 dissected specimens: 29 (2), 30 (3), 31 (2).

None

Blache & Miton (1960) placed N.rubroreticulatus very close to N.taeniopygus. Hilgendorf 1891 from lake Victoria, but in this species, the Dorsal is uniformly purple and not bordered with white, then black as the Caudal and Anal.

Mus. Nat. Hist. Nat. (Paris) N° 59.232 - 3 specimens (2 males and 1 female) from Koundoul, near Fort-Lamy, south of N'Djamena (15°09'E, 11°58'N), Chad, collected on 18 October 1958.

Mus. Nat. Hist. Nat. (Paris) N° 59.235 - 3 specimens (2 females of 21-48 mm., 1 male of 27 mm.) from Bahr-Marako, also near Fort-Lamy, but this time in Cameroon, collected on 13 October 1955.

According to Blache and Miton (1960), all collections have taken place in water holes of about 10 m², filled with rainwater. These water holes were dug as source of landfills during road maintenance. All collected specimens were sexually mature or had just spawned. Life of these specimens does not exceed a few months during which these holes are filled by rainwater. The survival is assured by lasting eggs, capable of resisting to long desiccation in the hardened mud during the entire dry season (from December to May included).

N.rubroreticulatus forms the westernmost representative of the Nothobranchius genus. More to the west one finds Pronothobranchius Kiyawensis, which was first captured by L. Lloyd in the Kiyawe river, close to Katagum [10° 20'E - 12° 15'N] in the northern provinces of Nigeria. The presence of a Nothobranchius around the Chad basin is not surprising, because it is known that this drainage system was once much wider and part of the Nile drainage system. Where the genus is also represented by N.virgatus in The Sudan, and by N.ugandensis and N.robustus in the Upper Nile system.

According to J. J. Scheel (1990), it should not be left out of consideration that N.rubroreticulatus could represent one of Vanderplank's introductions of N.taeniopygus for malaria control during World War II. Fort Lamy formed probably a strategic airport during that war.

The description of the species is given by Blache and Miton (1960) as follows: males are brightly coloured; the entire body carries a purple reticulation over a light green base with nacre reflections, this reticulation is formed by the scales which the visible edge is underlined by purple. The head is also purple, with large brilliant spots over the gill covers. Irregular but densely placed purple dots covers the Dorsal and Anal. On the basis of these fins, the sparsely placed dots merge together to finally form a uniformly coloured band in their median part. This band is separated by a marginal black edge, which follows the entire exterior edge of the fin, and by a very well visible white band. The Caudal is dark red over its 2/3 base, then presents a white transverse band with bluish reflections, distally limited by a black or night blue border, underlining the fin's external border. Pectorals and Ventrals are colourless.

Females do not present a particularly coloured pattern. The general coloration is light grey yellowish, a little darker over the back, without spots or points of any sort; fins are transparent, slightly uniformly yellowish.

• Blache & Miton, 1960 - - Poissons nouveaux du Bassin du Tchad et du Bassin adjacent du Mayo Kebbi; III Cyprinodontidae - Cichlidae - Bull. Mus. Nat. Hist. Nat. (Paris); 20 Série, Tome 32; N° 3, 1960: 215-216.
• Scheel, J. J. - 1990 - Atlas of Killifishes of the Old World - T.F.H. Publications, Inc.: 448 pages.