Rivulus kirovskyi, new species, from the central Amazon, lower rio Negro drainage, northern Brazil, is described. It is a member of an assemblage that includes R. amanapira, R. atratus, R. ornatus, R. rectocaudatus, R. romeri, R. tecminae, and R. uakti, and is diagnosed by a unique pattern of frontal squamation and a derived color pattern of the infraorbital region. Relationships of the new species with other taxa of the group are unclear at the present. It is similar to R. atratus, R. ornatus, and R. romeri in having an apomorphic reduction of anal-fin rays and by the absence of caudal spot in females, and similar to R. amanapira, R. rectocaudatus, R. romeri, R. tecminae, and R. uakti, by the absence of preopercular canal and dermosphenotic. Rivulus kirovskyi differs from all other species of the group by its unique color pattern of the caudal fin in males.
Systematics; rio Amazonas basin; rio Negro; Neotropical
