Cyprinodontiformes

Blue panchax Aplocheilus panchax, copyright Sahat Ratmuangkhwang.

Belongs within: Atherinomorpha.
Contains: Cyprinodontidae, Fundulidae, Poeciliidae.

The Cyprinodontiformes, killifishes and related forms, are a cosmopolitan group of small fishes usually found in estuarine or marine environments (Bond 1996). Members include the four-eyed fishes of the Anablepidae, in which the pupil is divided between an upper and a lower section to enable simultaneous vision above and below the water line. The Aplocheilidae of tropical Asia and Madagascar have the pelvic fin bases inserted close together and a black blotch is present on the dorsal fin of females.

Characters (from Bond 1996): Soft-rayed physoclists with abdominal pelvic fins. Single dorsal fin set behind middle of body. Caudal fin with varying number of rays, never forked. Orbitosphenoid, mesocoracoid, and basisphenoid absent; maxillaries excluded from border of mouth by premaxillaries. Lateral line canal system incomplete or not well formed on head and body.

Cyprinodontiformes [Microcyprini]
    |--Aplocheilidae [Aplocheilinae, Aplocheiloidei] B-RB13
    |    |--Fundulopanchax B96
    |    |--Aphiosemion B96
    |    |--Epiplatys B96
    |    |--Pachypanchax playfairii B96, ND13
    |    `--Aplocheilus L91
    |         |--A. latipes L91
    |         `--A. panchax CS77
    `--Cyprinodontoidei B-RB13
         |  i. s.: Profundulus B96 [Profundulidae B-RB13]
         |           `--P. hildebrandi B96
         |         Valencia B96 [Valenciidae B-RB13]
         |           `--V. hispanica B96
         |         Anablepidae B-RB13
         |           |--Jenynsia [Jenynsiidae] B96
         |           |    `--J. multidentata (Jenyns 1842) MGV06
         |           `--Anableps LD09
         |                |--A. anableps (Linnaeus 1758) LD09 [incl. A. tetrophthalmus Günther 1866 F16]
         |                `--A. microleps Müller & Troschel 1844 PC01
         |         Goodeidae B-RB13
         |           |  i. s.: Tapatia occidentalis Alvarez & Arriola 1972 P93
         |           |--Goodeinae B96
         |           `--Empetrichthyinae B96
         |                |--Crenichthys B96
         |                `--Empetrichthys B96
         |                     |--E. erdisi G88
         |                     |--E. latos USDI77
         |                     |    |--E. l. latos D81
         |                     |    |--E. l. concavus D81
         |                     |    `--E. l. pahrump D81
         |                     `--E. merriami D81
         |         Nothobranchius B96 [Nothobranchiidae B-RB13]
         |           `--N. rachowi B96
         |         Rivulidae B-RB13
         |           |--Pterolebias B96
         |           |--Cynolebias B96
         |           `--Rivulus R88
         |                |--R. cylindraceus R88
         |                |--R. garciai R88
         |                |--R. harti [=Haplochilus harti; incl. R. micropus Günther 1866] F16
         |                |--R. heyei R88
         |                |--R. insulaepinorum R88
         |                |--R. isthmensis F15
         |                |--R. marmoratus R86
         |                `--R. roloffi R88
         |--Cyprinodontidae ND13
         `--+--Fundulidae ND13
            `--Poeciliidae ND13

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[B-RB13] Betancur-R., R., R. E. Broughton, E. O. Wiley, K. Carpenter, A. López, C. Li, N. I. Holcroft, D. Arcila, M. Sanciangco, J. C. Cureton, II, F. Zhang, T. Buser, M. A. Campbell, J. A. Ballesteros, A. Roa-Varon, S. Willis, W. C. Borden, T. Rowley, P. C. Reneau, D. J. Hough, G. Lu, T. Grande, G. Arratia & G. Ortí. 2013. The tree of life and a new classification of bony fishes. PLoS Currents Tree of Life April 18 2013. doi: 10.1371/currents.tol.53ba26640df0ccaee75bb165c8c26288.

[B96] Bond, C. E. 1996. Biology of Fishes 2^nd ed. Saunders College Publishing: Fort Worth.

[CS77] Cramp, S., & K. E. L. Simmons (eds) 1977. Handbook of the Birds of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa: The Birds of the Western Palaearctic vol. 1. Ostrich to Ducks. Oxford University Press: Oxford.

[D81] Day, D. 1981. The Doomsday Book of Animals: A unique natural history of three hundred vanished species. Ebury Press: London.

[F15] Fowler, H. W. 1915. Cold-blooded vertebrates from Florida, the West Indies, Costa Rica, and eastern Brazil. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 67 (2): 244–269.

[F16] Fowler, H. W. 1916. The fishes of Trinidad, Grenada, and St. Lucia, British West Indies. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 67 (3): 520–548.

[G88] Gray, J. 1988. Evolution of the freshwater ecosystem: the fossil record. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 62: 1–214.

[LD09] Li, B., A. Dettaï, C. Cruaud, A. Couloux, M. Desoutter-Meniger & G. Lecointre. 2009. RNF213, a new nuclear marker for acanthomorph phylogeny. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 50: 345–363.

[L91] Liehne, P. F. S. 1991. An Atlas of the Mosquitoes of Western Australia. Health Department of Western Australia.

[MGV06] Mai, A. C. G., A. M. Garcia & J. P. Vieira. 2006. Ecologia alimentar do barrigudinho Jenynsia multidentata (Jenyns, 1842) (Pisces: Cyprinodontiformes) no estuário da Laguna dos Patos, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil. Comunicações do Museo de Ciências e Tecnologia da PUCRS, Serie Zoologia 19 (1): 3–18.

[ND13] Near, T. J., A. Dornburg, R. I. Eytan, B. P. Keck, W. L. Smith, K. L. Kuhn, J. A. Moore, S. A. Price, F. T. Burbrink, M. Friedman & P. C. Wainwright. 2013. Phylogeny and tempo of diversification in the superradiation of spiny-rayed fishes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 110 (31): 12738–12743.

[P93] Patterson, C. 1993. Osteichthyes: Teleostei. In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Fossil Record 2 pp. 621–656. Chapman & Hall: London.

[PC01] Pichelin, S., & T. H. Cribb. 2001. The status of the Diplosentidae (Acanthocephala: Palaeacanthocephala) and a new family of acanthocephalans from Australian wrasses (Pisces: Labridae). Folia Parasitologica 48: 289–303.

[R88] Rauchenberger, M. 1988. Historical biogeography of poeciliid fishes in the Caribbean. Systematic Zoology 37 (4): 356–365.

[R86] Rivas, L. R. 1986. Comments on Briggs (1984): freshwater fishes and biogeography of Central America and the Antilles. Systematic Zoology 35 (4): 633–639.

[USDI77] United States Department of the Interior. 1977. Endangered and threatened wildlife and plants—republication of list of species. Federal Register 42: 36420–36431.

Last updated: 9 February 2022.