Procatopodidae, the African lampeyes, is a

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 ...

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 ...

in the

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

Cyprinodontiformes Cyprinodontiformes is an order (biology), order of Actinopterygii, ray-finned fish, comprising mostly small, freshwater fish. Many popular aquarium fish, such as killifish and Poeciliidae, live-bearers, are included. They are closely related t ...

. It was formerly treated as a subfamily (Procatopodinae) of the

Poecilidae Poeciliidae are a family of freshwater ray-finned fishes of the order Cyprinodontiformes, the tooth-carps, and include well-known live-bearing aquarium fish, such as the guppy, molly, platy, and swordtail. The original distribution of the fami ...

. Despite containing mostly African genera (including ''

Pantanodon ''Pantanodon'' is a genus of fishes native to East Africa and Madagascar. Species There are currently two recognized species in this genus: * ''Pantanodon madagascariensis'' (Jacques Arnoult, Arnoult, 1963) * ''Pantanodon stuhlmanni'' (Ernst Ah ...

''), the South American '' Fluviphylax'' was also placed in it as its own tribe. However, more recent studies have found this treatment to be paraphyletic;

Pantanodontidae Pantanodontidae, the spine killifishes, is a family of killifish in the suborder Cyprinodontoidei. It is the most basal member of the suborder, being the sister to all other members of the clade. It contains about 13 species in 4 genera which a ...

, Fluviphylacidae, and Procatopodidae are their own families distinct from Poecilidae, and the former two are distinct from Procatopodidae as well. Meanwhile, the Aplocheilichthyinae, previously treated as a separate subfamily of Poecilidae, are known to belong to the Procatopodidae. This family is thought to be the

sister group 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 clade comprising

Aphaniidae Aphaniidae, the Oriental killifishes, are a family of the order Cyprinodontiformes. The 42 extant species of the family inhabit inland waters, rivers and lagoons. The distribution of these species extends from the entire Mediterranean region th ...

and

Valenciidae ''Valencia'' is the monotypic taxon, only genus in the family Valenciidae. ''Valencia'' is a genus of Actinopterygii, ray-finned fishes. It was formerly grouped into the family Cyprinodontidae, but more recent studies support it being its own fam ...

. Abstract

Subdivisions

The family Procatopodidae is divided into two subfamilies and 14

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

: *Subfamily Aplocheilichthyinae Myers 1928 ** '' Aplocheilichthys'' Bleeker, 1863 * Subfamily Procatopodinae Fowler, 1916 ** '' Aapticheilichthys'' Huber, 2011 ** '' Congopanchax'' Poll, 1971 ** ''

Hylopanchax ''Hylopanchax'' is a genus of poeciliids native to the Congo River Basin and Ivindo River in Middle Africa. Species There are currently 6 recognized species in this genus: * ''Hylopanchax leki'' Jouke R. van der Zee, van der Zee, Rainer Sonnenb ...

'' Poll & Lambert, 1965 ** '' Hypsopanchax'' Myers, 1924 ** ''

Laciris ''Laciris pelagica'' is a species of poeciliid found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. It is endemic to Lake Edward where it is found near the surface in open water. This species grows to a total length of . It was formerly inc ...

'' Huber, 1981 ** ''

Lacustricola ''Lacustricola'' is a genus of poeciliids native to East Africa, East, Southern Africa, Southern and Middle Africa. Species There are currently 20 recognized species in this genus: * ''Lacustricola atripinna'' (Georg Johann Pfeffer, Pfeffer, 18 ...

'' Myers, 1924 ** ''

Lamprichthys The Tanganyika killifish (''Lamprichthys tanganicanus'') is a species of poeciliid endemic to Lake Tanganyika, where it forms large schools, mainly close to rocky shores but also pelagically off shore. This species grows to a length of SL. It ...

'' Regan, 1911 ** ''

Micropanchax ''Micropanchax'' is a genus of poeciliids native to Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, ...

'' Myers, 1924 ** '' Plataplochilus'' Ahl, 1928 ** '' Platypanchax'' Ahl, 1928 ** '' Poropanchax'' Clausen, 1967 ** '' Procatopus'' Boulenger, 1904 ** '' Rhexipanchax''

Huber Huber is a German-language surname. It derives from the German word meaning hide, a unit of land a farmer might possess, granting them the status of a free tenant. It is in the top ten most common surnames in the German-speaking world, especial ...

, 1999

References

{{Taxonbar, From = Q1229258 Taxa named by Henry Weed Fowler Cyprinodontiformes