Heterandria

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Heterandria
Least killifish (H. formosa), adult female
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Cyprinodontiformes
Family: Poeciliidae
Tribe: Heterandriini
Genus: Heterandria
Agassiz, 1853
Type species
Heterandria formosa
Girard, 1859[1]

Heterandria is a

livebearing fishes within the family Poeciliidae. Most species occur in Guatemala and its surroundings, particularly Mexico, but the midget livebearer (H. formosa) comes from the southeastern United States
.

Though many Poecilidae are familiar

swordtails, species within Heterandria are not commonly kept as pets. Somewhat more frequently found in aquaria is H. formosa, perhaps because it is one of the smallest known fish species in the world; its diminutive males are probably the smallest fish easy to keep as a pet. Species in this genus resemble egg-laying Cyprinodontoidei such as Fundulidae (topminnows) at first glance, and are thus sometimes called "killifish" though this is technically erroneous.[2]

Species

FishBase currently recognize 3 species in this genus,[3][4] but based on genetics, external characters, morphometrics and meristics H. formosa (the type species of the genus) is not closely related to the remaining, which have been moved to their own genus, Pseudoxiphophorus.[5][6][7] There are probably more remaining undiscovered[citation needed] as these fishes are rather inconspicuous. However, it is not very likely that many species remain unknown to science as this genus is only found in a rather restricted region, and only one new species has been discovered since 1980.

The three species classified under this genus are:[3]

References

  1. ^ Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Heterandia". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  2. ^ FishBase (2009): Heterandria species. Retrieved April 8, 2009.
  3. ^ a b Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2019). Species of Heterandria in FishBase. August 2019 version.
  4. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.1824.1.5
    .
  5. ^ Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2019). Species of Pseudoxiphophorus in FishBase. August 2019 version.
  6. ^ Morales-Cazan, A.; and Albert, J.S. (2012). Monophyly of Heterandriini (Teleostei: Poeciliidae) revisited: a critical review of the data. Neotrop. Ichthyol. 10 (1).
  7. ^ Agorreta, A.; Domínguez-Domínguez, O.; Reina, R.G.; Miranda, R.; Bermingham, E.; and Doadrio, I. (2013). Phylogenetic relationships and biogeography of Pseudoxiphophorus (Teleostei: Poeciliidae) based on mitochondrial and nuclear genes. Mol Phylogenet Evol. 2013 Jan;66(1):80-90
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