Paraphanius Explained

Paraphanius is a genus of killifishes in the family Aphaniidae, which are native to western Asia (including Asia Minor). Several species in the genus have very limited distribution and may be threatened.

Etymology

The generic name is derived from Latin: para, "near", and Aphanius, the genus from which they were split in 2020.^[1] It is a sister genus to Aphanius and Aphaniops.

Species

There are seven valid species:

• Paraphanius alexandri (Akşiray, 1948)
• Paraphanius boulengeri (Akşiray, 1948)
• Paraphanius mento (Heckel, 1843) (Pearl-spotted killifish)
• Paraphanius mentoides (Akşiray, 1948)
• Paraphanius orontis (Akşiray, 1948)
• Paraphanius similis (Akşiray, 1948)
• Paraphanius striptus (Goren, 1974)

Further reading

• DNA barcoding and species delimitation of the Old World tooth-carps, family Aphaniidae Hoedeman, 1949 (Teleostei: Cyprinodontiformes). 2020. Esmaeili. Hamid Reza. Teimori. Azad. Zarei. Fatah. Sayyadzadeh. Golnaz. PLOS ONE. 15. 4. e0231717. 32298351. 2020PLoSO..1531717E. 10.1371/journal.pone.0231717. free. 7162479.
• A proposal for a new generic structure of the killifish family Aphaniidae, with the description of Aphaniops teimorii (Teleostei: Cyprinodontiformes). 2020. Freyhof. Jörg. Yoğurtçuoğlu. Baran. Zootaxa. 4810. 3. 421–451. 33055730. 10.11646/zootaxa.4810.3.2.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Order CYPRINODONTIFORMES: Families POECILIIDAE, ANABLEPIDAE, VALENCIIDAE, APHANIIDAE and PROCATOPODIDAE . 20 April 2024 . Christopher Scharpf . Kenneth J. Lazara . amp . The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database . Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara . 8 December 2023 . v. 16.0.