After Liberia, the country of origin.

Boulenger G.A. 1908.

Description of two new Cyprinodontid fishes from west Africa.

Annals & Magazine of Natural History (8): ii,: p 30.

4.5 cm

• D = 11, A = 15-16, ll = 32 (Boulenger 1908)
• D = 11, A = 15-16, D/A = +4, ll = 28-31 (Radda & Pürzl 1987)

n = 21, A = 22 (Scheel 1968; Vandermissen, Etzel & Berkenkamp 1980)

liberiense

• Haplochilus liberiensis Arnold 1908 (nomen nudum)
• Haplochilus liberiensis Boulenger 1908
• Panchax liberiensis Ahl 1924
• Aphyosemion liberiense Myers 1924
• Aphyosemion liberiensis Rachow 1924
• Aphyosemion (Aphyosemion) calabaricus Ahl 1936
• Aphyosemion calabaricus Arnold & Ahl 1936
• Haplochilus calabaricus Schultz 1942
• Epiplatys melanteron Fowler 1950
• Roloffia melantereon (Fowler 1950)
• Aphyosemion calabaricum Daget & Iltys 1965
• Aphyosemion bertholdi Roloff 1965
• Roloffia calabaricus Scheel 1966
• Roloffia liberiensis Clausen 1967
• Roloffia calabarica Clausen 1967
• Roloffia bertholdi Clausen 1967
• Aphyosemion mülleri Scheel 1968 (nomen nudum)
• Aphyosemion (Callopanchax) liberiense Radda 1970
• Aphyosemion (Callopanchax) bertholdi Radda 1970
• Aphyosemion muelleri Kessel 1975 (nomen nudum)
• 'Müller's Aphyosemion'

• Bomi Hills
• Bromley (Liberia)
• Du River (Liberia)
• Firestone Plantation (Harbel, southern Liberia)
• Gbonkonima (Gbon Komina is a corruption)
• Kenema (Sierra Leone)
• Matanga (fredrodi) (Sierra Leone)
• Monrovia (Liberia)
• Paynesville
• Robertsport (Liberia)
• Sowoja River (fredrodi) (Sierra Leone)
• Ta
• Tienii
• Totota (Liberia)
• RL 28
• RL 64
• RL 97
• RSL 18

• Bromley - Collected by Schultz in 1942.
• Du River - Collected by Schultz in 1942.
• Firestone Plantation - Collected by Etzel & Putz in 1982 & distributed under the code RL 64.
• Harbel - (Firestone Plantation). Possibly collected in 1982 by Etzel & Putz.
• Matanga - Originally distributed as fredrodi. Collected by Busch & Hellner in 1989 (SL 89 code).
• Monrovia - First collected by unknown collectors & imported as a commercial import in 1908.
  Collected by Etzel & Putz in 1982 & distributed under the code RL 28.
  A code circulated as U1 but I have no information.
  Roloff may have also collected in this area.
  
• Robertsport - Possibly collected by Roloff.
• Sowoja - Originally distributed as fredrodi. Collected by Busch & Hellner in 1989 (SL 89 code).
• Ta - Possibly collected by Roloff.
  

Monrovia area, Sierra Leone.

Southeast Sierra Leone across the border with Liberia. Inhabits the Moa & Sewa River drainages in Sierra Leone & the Lofa, Mano & Saint Paul River drainages in Liberia.

Coastal rainforest pools, swamps & brooks.

Boulenger described this species in 1908 from 2 females presented to him by Arnold who found them ( 3 specimens in all ) in a bag of E.dageti imported from Monrovia in 1908. This incidentally, was the first recorded import for E.dageti.

Boulenger gives the following collectors / locations in his 1915 Catalogue.

• 1-2 (Types). Collected at Monrovia.
• 3. Same as above but not used as types. Both discovered in a shipment by J.P.Arnold.

Pellegrin, in 1934, reports Script.liberiense from Man, western Ivory Coast although Scheel considered these may have been maeseni. He also reported liberiense from Kindia although Scheel considered these may have been geryi or roloffi. This area is also in the distribution area of Script. cauveti.

In 1942 Schulz reported them being collected at Bromley & Du River close to Monrovia.

Daget reported the species being collected from Mount Nimba in 1948 & from Banfora in 1960. The Banfora fish were thought to be maeseni although Banfora is in the distribution area of Script. banforense.

In 1965 Clausen collected 4 specimens of liberiense but these died in transit to Scheel.

The Monrovia population was distributed in the BKA by Species Import Committee in May 1980.

History of the synonym Aphyosemion calabaricus Ahl 1935

In 1935 Ahl described this sp. from aquarium kept individuals from unknown origin. These specimens were provided by F.Mayer of Hamburg who, in turn bought them from O.Winklemann of Altona. The professional collector who caught them from the wild told Winklemann that he caught them in Calabar, Niger Delta area. This information is regarded as incorrect.
Clausen, in 1965, caught one male & three females corresponding to calabaricus 20 miles from Monrovia, Liberia. Clausen & Scheel considered that the area of Monrovia was the probable source of Ahl's fish.

History of the synonym Roloffia melantereon Fowler 1950.

In 1950 Fowler described Epiplatys melanteron from 3 specimens collected by Matlock near Robertsport, western Liberia. The largest specimen collected measured only 25 mm. Etzel researched the area & concluded that only Script.liberiense & Script.brueningi are native to this collection area.

History of the synonym Roloffia fredrodi Vandermissen, Etzel & Berkenkamp 1980

Regarded as an easy species to breed. Eggs can be taken from the mop & water incubated. Hatching occurs about 18-21 days although some breeders found they took a little longer. Growth rate can be a little slow with sexual maturity taking about 5-6 months.

Scheel reported in ROTOW 1 that the species had been in captivity since 1935. Breeders had observed that egg incubation periods if left in an aquarium could be delayed by up to 'several weeks' instead of the usual '10 - 12 days'. It was also observed that eggs incubated in clean water without peat or mud did not develop lengthened incubation periods.