Habitat and Conservation Assessment of the Annual Killifish of the <em>Xenurolebias</em> (Rivulidae: Cynolebiinae) from Coastal Floodplains Including the First Species on South of the Rio Doce, Southeastern Brazil

The Atlantic Forest coastal tablelands is home to a wide diversity of small-sized freshwater fish sharing a biogeographically congruent distributional pattern. The annual killifish Xenurolebias are among these remarkable inhabitants in the riparian wetlands with four species in the area. Xenurolebias pataxo between the Jucuruçu and Mucuri rivers, geographically replaced by Xenurolebias myersi at the Riacho Doce and the Rio Itaúnas, and further south Xenurolebias cricarensis in the floodplains of the Rio São Mateus and Xenurolebias izecksohni, living in temporary environments of the Rio Barra Seca, north of the Rio Doce. Due to their restricted habitat at lowlands, these annual killifish could be all signed as target species, providing benefits in the conservation of riparian wetlands. However, less is known about their habits and real distribution. Otherwise, the accelerated habitat loss is worrisome. Two of these species are threatened with extinction on Red Lists; one is Near Threatened and one Data Deficient. After ten years since the last species description, our investigations revealed a fifth species, the first recorded south of Rio Doce. The present contribution aims to highlight the habitat occupied by each species within the temporary environments, and present an updated distributional data on these fishes. Additionally, a new Xenurolebias is described, the first one recorded on south of Rio Doce.