Notropis megalops

Notropis megalops
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Cypriniformes
Family: Cyprinidae
Subfamily: Leuciscinae
Clade: Pogonichthyinae
Genus: Notropis
Species:
N. megalops
Binomial name
Notropis megalops
Girard, 1856
Synonyms[1]
  • Alburnus megalops Girard, 1856
  • Notropis swaini Jordan & Gilbert, 1885

Notropis megalops, the West Texas shiner, is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish from the family Cyprinidae, the carps and minnows. It was originally described by the French ichthyologist Charles Frédéric Girard in 1856 but was thought to be a misidentification for the Texas shiner (Notropis amiabilis) but detailed genetic and morphological studies have shown that N. megalops and N. amabilis are two valid but separate species. N. megalops has been found only in the drainage of the Rio Grande where it has a fragmented distribution and low levels of genetic diversity.[2] Notropis megalops is endemic to the Rio Grande drainage of Texas and in Coahuila and Nuevo León in Mexico and does not overlap with N. amiabilis and despite their morphological similarity they do not appear to be closely related.[3]

References

  1. ^ William Eschmeyer (ed.). "Species that contain: Notropis and megalops (not including unavailable names)". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
  2. ^ Steve Byrns (5 April 2016). "'Forgotten' fish turns up in West Texas". Science Daily. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
  3. ^ Kevin W. Conway; Daemin Kim (2016). "Redescription of the Texas Shiner Notropis amabilis from the southwestern United States and northern Mexico with the reinstatement of N. megalops (Teleostei: Cyprinidae)". Ichthyol. Explor. Freshwaters. 26 (4): 305–340.


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