Plesiolebias Explained

Plesiolebias is a genus of fish in the family Rivulidae. These annual killifish are endemic to seasonal pools, swamps and lagoons in the Araguaia–Tocantins, Xingu, and uppermost Paraguay (Pantanal) river basins in Brazil.^[1]

They are small fish, up to in total length. As typical of killifish, males are more colorful than females.^[1]

Species

Plesiolebias and the closely related Maratecoara, Papiliolebias, Pituna and Stenolebias form a clade, Plesiolebiasini.^[1]

There are currently eight recognized species in Plesiolebias:

• Plesiolebias altamira W. J. E. M. Costa & D. T. B. Nielsen, 2007
• Plesiolebias aruana (Lazara, 1991)
• Plesiolebias canabravensis W. J. E. M. Costa & D. T. B. Nielsen, 2007
• Plesiolebias filamentosus W. J. E. M. Costa & G. C. Brasil, 2007
• Plesiolebias fragilis W. J. E. M. Costa, 2007
• Plesiolebias glaucopterus (W. J. E. M. Costa & Lacerda, 1989)
• Plesiolebias lacerdai W. J. E. M. Costa, 1989
• Plesiolebias xavantei (W. J. E. M. Costa, Lacerda & Tanizaki, 1988)

Notes and References

1. Costa, W.J.E.M. . 2007 . Taxonomy of the plesiolebiasine killifish genera Pituna, Plesiolebias and Maratecoara (Teleostei: Cyprinodontiformes: Rivulidae), with descriptions of nine new species . Zootaxa . 1410 . 1–41 .