Wikipedia

Iguanodectidae

Not to be confused with Iguanodontidae.

Iguanodectidae is a family of freshwater fish in the order Characiformes that lives in South America. It is home to the subfamily Iguanodectinae (Eigenmann, 1909) and the monotypic Bryconops clade. Several species in the family, such as the green line lizard tetra (Iguanodectes spilurus), the tailspot tetra (Bryconops caudomaculatus), and the orangefin tetra (Bryconops affinis), are sometimes taken as aquarium fish.

Iguanodectidae
Bryconops caudomaculatus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Characiformes
Family: Iguanodectidae
Eigenmann, 1909
Genera

See the text

Description

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Iguanodectids are generally small, and are brightly colored or reflective, making them moderately-popular ornamental fish. They range from 3.1 cm to 15 cm SL (standard length).[1][2][3] They are rather narrow in shape, somewhat resembling minnows; ichthyologist Carl H. Eigenmann compared them to smelt.[4]

Habitat

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Iguanodectids are found in South America, spread all across the northern half of the continent.[5][6] Though they primarily inhabit freshwater, Iguanodectid fishes are known to tolerate brackish water as well.[7] Habitat destruction, by way of land development and aquaculture, is the biggest threat to members of Iguanodectidae, though evaluated species are mostly considered least concern by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).[8]

Classification

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Iguanodectidae is in the order Characiformes, with three extant genera - Bryconops, Iguanodectes, and Piabucus.[6][9] Said genera used to be classified in the family Characidae, but have since been reclassified in order to keep Characidae monophyletic.[10]

Species include:

Bryconops (Kner, 1858)

Iguanodectes (Cope, 1872)

Piabucus (Oken, 1817)

Bryconops is the most speciose genus, with 21 valid species.[1] Iguanodectes is next-largest with 8, and Piabucus has the fewest at 3.[2][3]

Iguanodectes and Piabucus are largely considered to make up the subfamily Iguanodectinae, with Bryconops becoming its own separate clade, but this is a matter of debate. Several sources accept the subfamily Iguanodectinae as its own entity,[11][12] but others consider it synonymous with Iguanodectidae[13][14] or simply don't acknowledge it,[15] uniting the genera therein. ITIS considers it synonymous with Characidae, which is a reflection of its older classification.[16]

Iguanodectinae, when first officially classified by Carl H. Eigenmann in 1909, was placed in the family Characidae, and only contained the genus Iguanodectes;[17] by 1929, it had grown to include the genus Piabucus.[4] Through the year 1977, this remained the case.[18] In 2011, Iguanodectinae was found to be closely related to Bryconops, and the two clades were combined in Iguanodectidae.[10]

History

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The family Iguanodectidae was resurrected from Eigenmann's work in the year 2011 by Oliveira et al. to contain Iguanodectinae and Bryconops.[7][10] Iguanodectinae itself was classified in 1909, and therefore Iguanodectidae is often considered to originate in the same year, despite the recent nature of the study.[15]

Etymology

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The family name "Iguanodectidae" originates in the genus name "Iguanodectes", which used to be its sole representative.[17] The origin of such was not made clear upon its nomination, but is assumed to be from "iguana", the lizard, and "dectes", meaning "bite", in reference to the general dentition's almost lizard-like formation.[19] The common name "lizard bite tetra" has been proposed in reference to this, though this has not been widely accepted as of 2022.[7][20]

In Aquaria

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Though data is limited, it is known that Bryconops colanegra,[21] Bryconops colaroja,[22] and Piabucus dentatus[23] are seen in the ornamental fish trade. Iguanodectes geisleri is rare, but is sold under the name "red line lizard tetra".[24] One of its congeners, Iguanodectes spilurus, is called the "green line lizard tetra", and is sensitive to poor water conditions.[25]

References

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  1. ^ a b Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Species in genus Bryconops". FishBase. February 2022 version.
  2. ^ a b Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Species in genus Iguanodectes". FishBase. February 2022 version.
  3. ^ a b Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Species in genus Piabucus". FishBase. February 2022 version.
  4. ^ a b Eigenmann, Carl H.; Meyers, George S. (1917–1929). The American Characidae. Cambridge. pp. 493–494. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  5. ^ "Iguanodectidae". SiBBr. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  6. ^ a b "Iguanodectidae". GBIF. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  7. ^ a b c Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Family Iguanodectidae". FishBase. February 2022 version.
  8. ^ "Red List Search: Iguanodectidae". IUCN Red List. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  9. ^ Melo, Bruno F.; Benine, Ricardo C.; Silva, Gabriel S. C.; Avelino, Gleisy S.; Oliveira, Claudio (2016-01-01). "Molecular phylogeny of the Neotropical fish genus Tetragonopterus (Teleostei: Characiformes: Characidae)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 94 (Pt B): 709–717. Bibcode:2016MolPE..94..709M. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2015.10.022. hdl:11449/161044. ISSN 1055-7903. PMID 26541240.
  10. ^ a b c Oliveira, C., Avelino, G.S., Abe, K.T., Mariguela, T.C., Benine, R.C., Orti, G., Vari, R.P., & Correa e Castro, R.M. (2011): Phylogenetic relationships within the speciose family Characidae (Teleostei: Ostariophysi: Characiformes) based on multilocus analysis and extensive ingroup sampling. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 11: 275. doi: 10.1186/1471-2148-11-275
  11. ^ "Iguanodectidae Eigenmann, 1909 - Ocean Biodiversity Information System". portal.obis.org. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  12. ^ "WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Iguanodectidae Eigenmann, 1909". www.marinespecies.org. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  13. ^ "IRMNG - Iguanodectidae". Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  14. ^ "Taxonomy browser (Iguanodectidae)". NCBI. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  15. ^ a b "Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes Classification". California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  16. ^ "ITIS - Report: Iguanodectinae". www.itis.gov. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  17. ^ a b Eigenmann, Carl H. (1910). Catalogue and bibliography of the fresh water fishes of the Americas south of the Tropic of Cancer. Lancaster, Pa.: Press of the New Era Printing Co. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.11953.
  18. ^ Vari, Richard P. (26 January 1977). "Notes on the characoid subfamily Iguanodectinae, with a description of a new species". American Museum Novitates (2612). hdl:2246/2012 – via AMNH Digital Repository.
  19. ^ Scharpf, Christopher; Lazara, Kenneth J. (15 September 2020). "Order CHARACIFORMES: Families IGUANODECTIDAE, TRIPORTHEIDAE, BRYCONIDAE, CHALCEIDAE and GASTEROPELECIDAE". The ETYFish Project. Archived from the original on 6 November 2019. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  20. ^ "Iguanodectidae names - Encyclopedia of Life". eol.org. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  21. ^ Echevarría, G. 2019. Bryconops colanegra. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2019: e.T118038855A118038861. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-3.RLTS.T118038855A118038861.en. Accessed on 03 February 2022.
  22. ^ Echevarría, G. 2019. Bryconops colaroja. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2019: e.T118038882A118038887. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-3.RLTS.T118038882A118038887.en. Accessed on 03 February 2022.
  23. ^ Taphorn, D.C., DoNascimiento, C., Herrera-Collazos, E.E., Rodríguez-Olarte, D., Usma, S. & Villa-Navarro, F. 2021. Piabucus dentatus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021: e.T49830090A176108340. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-2.RLTS.T49830090A176108340.en. Accessed on 03 February 2022.
  24. ^ "Red Line Lizard Tetra (Iguanodectes geisleri)". Aqua-Imports. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  25. ^ "Iguanodectes spilurus (Green Line Lizard Tetra)". Seriously Fish. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
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