Geophagini is a
tribe
The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confl ...
of
cichlid
Cichlids are fish from the family Cichlidae in the order Cichliformes. Cichlids were traditionally classed in a suborder, the Labroidei, along with the wrasses ( Labridae), in the order Perciformes, but molecular studies have contradicted th ...
s from the
subfamily Cichlinae
The Cichlinae are a subfamily of fishes in the cichlid family, native to South America.
This subfamily consists of approximately 117 described species as of July 2017. Some authors have suggested that the Cichlinae encompasses all of the Neotr ...
, the American cichlids. It is the sister taxon to the clade which includes the
Cichlasomatini
Cichlastomatini is a tribe of cichlids from South America, one of two tribes that make up the subfamily Cichlasomatinae. They were recognised in 1983 as an assemblage by the Swedish ichthyologist Sven O. Kullander by their four rather than five ...
and
Heroini
Heroini is a fish tribe from the Cichlasomatinae subfamily in the cichlid family. All cichlids native to the Greater Antilles, United States (southern Texas), Mexico and northern Central America are members of this tribe. It also includes m ...
. Fishes in the Geophagini are distributed from Panama south to Argentina, it is the most speciose of the seven tribes within the Cichlinae and it is subdivided into three sub-tribes, Acarichthyina, Crenicaratina, and Geophagina which together contain over 200 species.
Geophagines show morphological and behavioural specialisations to enable them to sift the substrates within their mouths so that they can separate
benthic
The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from ancient Greek, βένθος (bénthos), meaning "t ...
invertebrates from substrates dominated by sand or silt.
Classification
The Geophagini are classified as follows:
[
* Subtribe Acarichthyina Kullander, 1998
** Genus '' Acarichthys'' C. H. Eigenmann, 1912
** Genus '' Guianacara'' Kullander & ]Nijssen Nijssen is a Dutch patronymic surname originating from the given name "Denijs" (DenisPeople with this surname include:
;
;Nijssen
* Han Nijssen (1935–2013), Dutch ichthyologist
* Sjir Nijssen (born 1938), Dutch computer scientist known for Nij ...
, 1989
* Subtribe Crenicaratina Kullander, 1998
** Genus '' Biotoecus'' C. H. Eigenmann & C. H. Kennedy, 1903
** Genus '' Crenicara'' Steindachner, 1875
** Genus ''Crenicichla
''Crenicichla'' is a genus of cichlids native to South America commonly known as the pike cichlids. They are found in most tropical and subtropical freshwater habitats between the Andes and the Atlantic.
Description
The smallest species of ''Cr ...
'' Heckel, 1840
** Genus '' Dicrossus'' Steindachner, 1875
** Genus '' Teleocichla'' Kullander, 1988
* Subtribe Geophagina Haseman, 1911
** Genus '' Apistogramma'' Regan
The family name Regan, along with its cognates O'Regan, O Regan, Reagan, and O'Reagan, is an Anglicized form of the Irish surname Ó Riagáin or Ó Ríogáin, from Ua Riagáin. The meaning is likely to have originated in ancient Gaelic ''ri' ...
, 1913
** Genus '' Apistogrammoides'' Meinken, 1965
** Genus '' Biotodoma'' C. H. Eigenmann & C. H. Kennedy, 1903
** Genus '' Geophagus'' Heckel, 1840
** Genus ''Gymnogeophagus
''Gymnogeophagus'' is a genus of cichlid fishes from South America, where they are known from various river basins (notably Rio de la Plata and Lagoa dos Patos– Mirim) in southern Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and northern Argentina. They are part ...
'' Miranda-Ribeiro, 1918
** Genus '' Mazarunia'' Kullander, 1990
** Genus '' Mikrogeophagus'' Meulengracht-Madsen, 1968
** Genus '' Satanoperca'' Günther, 1862
** Genus '' Taeniacara'' G. S. Myers, 1935
References
{{taxonbar, from =Q134264
Cichlinae
Fish tribes