Heterandria
Genus of fishes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Heterandria is a genus of 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.
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| Heterandria | |
|---|---|
| |
| Least killifish (H. formosa), adult female | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Cyprinodontiformes |
| Family: | Poeciliidae |
| Tribe: | Heterandriini |
| Genus: | Heterandria Agassiz, 1853 |
| Type species | |
| Heterandria formosa | |
Though many Poecilidae are familiar aquarium fishes, e.g. guppies, mollies, platys and 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 recognizes 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]
- Heterandria attenuata D. E. Rosen & R. M. Bailey, 1979
- Heterandria formosa Girard, 1859 (Dwarf livebearer, least killifish)
- Heterandria tuxtlaensis McEachran & T. J. DeWitt, 2008