The Siouan thinlip chub (''Cyprinella leptocheilus'') is a species of freshwater

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fish or actinopterygians, is a class of bony fish that comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. They are so called because of their lightly built fins made of webbings of sk ...

belonging to the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Leuciscidae Leuciscidae is a family of freshwater ray-finned fishes, formerly classified as a subfamily of the Cyprinidae, which contains the true minnows. Members of the Old World (OW) clade of minnows within this subfamily are known as European minnow ...

, the shiners, daces and minnows. This species is found in North and South Carolina in the southeastern United States.

Taxonomy

The Siouan thinlip chub was first formally described in 2024 by

Bryn H. Tracy Bryn is a Welsh word meaning hill. It may also refer to: Places United Kingdom England * Bryn, Cheshire, a location * Bryn, Greater Manchester ** Bryn (ward), an electoral ward in Wigan ** Bryn railway station * Bryn, Shropshire, a locati ...

, Fred C. Rohde and Robert E. Jenkins, although the existence of an undescribed species, variously called ''Hybopsis'' n. sp., ''H.'' sp. cf. ''zanema'', ''Cyprinella'' n. sp., and ''C.'' sp. cf. ''zanema'', in the sand hills and upper coatsal plain of

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

had been known since the early 1970s. The Siouan thinlip chub is the

sister species In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...

to the Santee chub (''C. zanema''), and both these species are sister to the thicklip chub (''C. labrosa''). This species is classified in the genus ''

Cyprinella ''Cyprinella'' is a genus of freshwater ray-finned fish in the family Leuciscidae, the shiners, daces and minnows. They are known as the satinfin shiners. They are native to North America, and some are among the most common freshwater fish speci ...

'' within the

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

Pogonichthyinae Pogonichthyinae is a subfamily of the freshwater fish family Leuciscidae, which contains the true minnows. Members of this family are known as American minnows or the North American (NA) clade of minnows. As the name suggests, all members of this ...

, the American minnows and shiners, of the dace family Leuciscidae.

Etymology

The Siouan thinlip chub was given the

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

''leptocheilus'' means "thin lip" and refers to its comparatvely smaller lips than the related species. This name had originally been put forward for this taxon by Robert E. Jenkins and Ernest A. Lachner in the early 1970s. The common name of Siouan thinlip chub was given to honor the

First peoples There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

groupings called the

Cheraw The Cheraw people, also known as the Saraw or Saura,Sebeok, Thomas Albert''Native Languages of the Americas, Volume 2.''Plenum Press, 1977: 251. were a Siouan-speaking tribe of Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands,Swanton''The Indians ...

Chicora Chicora was a legendary Native American kingdom or tribe sought during the 16th century by various European explorers in present-day South Carolina. The legend originated after Spanish slave traders captured an Indian they called Francisco de ...

Waccamaw The Waccamaw people were an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, who lived in villages along the Waccamaw and Pee Dee rivers in North and South Carolina in the 18th century.Lerch 328 Name The meaning of the name ''Waccamaw'' is ...

, and

Pee Dee The Pee Dee is a region in the northeast corner of the U.S. state of South Carolina. It lies along the lower watershed of the Pee Dee River, which was named after the Pee Dee, an Indigenous tribe historically inhabiting the region. History The ...

who historically lived in the area this species occurs in and who spoke

Siouan languages Siouan ( ), also known as Siouan–Catawban ( ), is a language family of North America located primarily in the Great Plains, Ohio and Mississippi valleys and southeastern North America with a few other languages in the east. Name Authors who ...

, in a similar way to the Santee chub being named in honor of the Siouan speaking Santee people.

Distribution and habitat

The Siouan thinlip chub is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the Sand Hills and upper Coastal Plain streams in the

Carolinas The Carolinas, also known simply as Carolina, are the U.S. states of North Carolina and South Carolina considered collectively. They are bordered by Virginia to the north, Tennessee to the west, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the southwes ...

. More specifically it occurs in the drainages of the upper Coastal Plain streams in the

Cape Fear River The Cape Fear River is a blackwater river in east-central North Carolina. It flows into the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Fear, from which it takes its name. The river is formed at the confluence of the Haw River and the Deep River in the town of ...

drainage in North Carolina and the

Yadkin–Pee Dee River Basin The Yadkin–Pee Dee River Basin (alternatively watershed or drainage basin) is a large river basin in the eastern United States, covering around 7,221 square miles, making it the second largest in the state of North Carolina. Its headwaters rise ...

in South Carolina. This species occurs in shallow pools in medium-sized, warm water creeks and rivers where the water may be clear or turbid, even in dark tannin colored waters, where there is a moderate current over sand or gravel streambeds.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q133256198 Cyprinella Fish described in 2024