Aphanius Temporal range:
| |
---|---|
Aphanius fasciatus | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | Cyprinodontiformes |
Family: | Aphaniidae |
Genus: |
Aphanius Nardo, 1827 |
Type species | |
Aphanius nanus Nardo, 1827
| |
Synonyms | |
Lebias Goldfuss, 1820 (invalid name) |
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.
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]
Following the split, there are five valid species: [2]
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]