''Dawkinsia'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomencla ...

cyprinid Cyprinidae is a family of freshwater fish commonly called the carp or minnow family. It includes the carps, the true minnows, and relatives like the barbs and barbels. Cyprinidae is the largest and most diverse fish family and the largest ver ...

fishes from freshwater in

South India South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territo ...

and

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. It was split off from genus ''

Puntius ''Puntius'' is a genus of small freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae native to South Asia and Mainland Southeast Asia, as well as Taiwan. Many species formerly placed in ''Puntius'' have been moved to other genera such as '' Barbodes'', ' ...

'' in 2012.

Etymology

''Dawkinsia'' is named after the evolutionary biologist

Richard Dawkins Richard Dawkins (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biologist and author. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford and was Professor for Public Understanding of Science in the University of Oxford from 1995 to 2008. An ath ...

in recognition of his "contribution to the public understanding of science, particularly, of evolutionary science". Dawkins describes this as "a great honour".

Description

Adults typically measure SL. They do not have rostral

barbels In fish anatomy and turtle anatomy, a barbel is a slender, whiskerlike sensory organ near the mouth. Fish that have barbels include the catfish, the carp, the goatfish, the hagfish, the sturgeon, the zebrafish, the black dragonfish and some ...

but might have maxillary barbels. Juveniles have a colour pattern consisting of three black bars on body; this persists to adult stage in some species. Adults have a black, horizontally elongate blotch on the caudal peduncle .Found in western ghats.

Species

There are currently nine recognized species in this genus: * '' Dawkinsia arulius'' ( Jerdon, 1849) (Arulius barb) * '' Dawkinsia assimilis'' ( Jerdon, 1849) * '' Dawkinsia exclamatio'' ( Pethiyagoda & Kottelat, 2005) * '' Dawkinsia filamentosa'' (

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; nl, label=also Dutch, Valencijn; pcd, Valincyinnes or ; la, Valentianae) is a commune in the Nord department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced a ...

, 1844) (Blackspot/Filament barb) * '' Dawkinsia rohani'' ( Rema Devi, Indra &

Knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

, 2010) * '' Dawkinsia rubrotinctus'' ( Jerdon, 1849) * '' Dawkinsia singhala'' ( Duncker, 1912) * '' Dawkinsia srilankensis'' ( Senanayake, 1985) (Blotched filamented barb) * '' Dawkinsia tambraparniei'' (

Silas Silas or Silvanus (; Greek: Σίλας/Σιλουανός; fl. 1st century AD) was a leading member of the Early Christian community, who according to the New Testament accompanied Paul the Apostle on his second missionary journey. Name and e ...

, 1954) * '' Dawkinsia uttara'' (Unmesh Katwate, Deepak Apte, Rajeev RaghavanUnmesh Katwate, Deepak Apte, Rajeev Raghavan, Dawkinsia uttara, a new species of filament barb (Teleostei: Cyprinidae) from the Western Ghats of India, Vertibrate Zoology, 70(4): 717– 730, 2020 2020) * ''Dawkinsia apsara'' (Katwate, Marcus Knight, Anoop, Raghavan & Dahanukar, 2020) (mascara barb)

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q310140 Freshwater fish of Asia Taxa named by Rohan Pethiyagoda Taxa named by Madhava Meegaskumbura Taxa named by Kalana Maduwage