Summary
Aphanius is a genus of pupfishes. Unlike other members of the family which are from the Americas, Aphanius species are native to northern Africa, southwestern Asia and southern Europe. Several species in the genus have very small distributions and are seriously threatened.
| Aphanius Temporal range:
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|---|---|
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| Aphanius fasciatus | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Cyprinodontiformes |
| Family: | Aphaniidae |
| Genus: | Aphanius Nardo, 1827 |
| Type species | |
| Aphanius nanus Nardo, 1827
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| Synonyms | |
|
Lebias Goldfuss, 1820 (invalid name) | |
Taxonomy and systematics edit
There were formerly 39 recognized species in this genus. However, the family Aphaniidae was split in 2020, and species were reallocated to eight monophyletic genera. Several species were reallocated; to five resurrected genera (Anatolichthys, Aphaniops, Kosswigichthys, Paraphanius, and Tellia) and two new genera Esmaeilius and Apricaphanius.[1]
Species edit
Following the split, there are five valid species:[2]
- Aphanius almiriensis Kottelat, Barbieri & Stoumboudi, 2007
- Aphanius chantrei (Gaillard, 1895)
- Aphanius desioi (Gianferrari, 1933)
- Aphanius fasciatus Valenciennes, 1821 (Mediterranean banded killifish)
- Aphanius punctatus Heckel, 1847
- Fossil species
- †Aphanius crassicaudus Agassiz 1839[3]
- †Aphanius yerevanicus Vasilyan et al. 2009
- †Lebias cephalotes Agassiz 1839
- †Lebias crassicaudus Agassiz 1839
- †Lebias gaudryi Sauvage 1873
- †Lebias gobio Agassiz 1839
- †Lebias meyeri Agassiz 1839
- †Lebias perpusillus Agassiz 1839
Fossil record edit
Fossils of extinct species, including A. crassicaudatus and A. yerevanicus, are known as far back as the Early Miocene of the Mediterranean and Caucasus regions.[4] are Fossils of Aphanius are found in strata of the Pleistocene of Italy (age range: from 11.608 to 5.332 million years ago.).[5]
References edit
- ^ Jörg Freyhof; Baran Yoğurtçuoğlu (July 2020). "A proposal for a new generic structure of the killifish family Aphaniidae, with the description of Aphaniops teimorii (Teleostei: Cyprinodontiformes)". Zootaxa. 4810 (3): 421–451. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4810.3.2.
- ^ Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2024). Species of Aphanius in FishBase. April 2024 version.
- ^ A. crassicaudus at Fossilworks
- ^ Reichenbacher, Bettina; Kowalke, Thorsten (2009-10-01). "Neogene and present-day zoogeography of killifishes (Aphanius and Aphanolebias) in the Mediterranean and Paratethys areas". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 281 (1): 43–56. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2009.07.008. ISSN 0031-0182.
- ^ Paleobiology Database