The Pseudocrenilabrinae are a

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 ...

in the cichlid family of fishes to which, according to a study from 2004, includes all the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

ern and

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, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

n cichlids with the exception of the unusual '' Heterochromis multidens'' and the Malagasy species. This subfamily includes more than 1,100 species. Previous authors recognized additional African subfamilies, e.g. the Tilapiinae of Hoedeman (1947), Tylochrominae of

Poll Poll, polled, or polling may refer to: Forms of voting and counting * Poll, a formal election ** Election verification exit poll, a survey taken to verify election counts ** Polling, voting to make decisions or determine opinions ** Polling pla ...

(1986), or Boulengerochrominae of Tawil (2001). This subfamily includes the cichlids from the

African Great Lakes The African Great Lakes (; ) are a series of lakes constituting the part of the Rift Valley lakes in and around the East African Rift. The series includes Lake Victoria, the second-largest freshwater lake in the world by area; Lake Tangan ...

, such as the utaka and

mbuna Mbuna (pronounced Mmm-boo-nah ) is the common name for a large group of African cichlids from Lake Malawi, and are members of the haplochromine tribe within the family Cichlidae. The name ''mbuna'' means "rockfish" in the language of the Tonga pe ...

Lake Malawi Lake Malawi, also known as Lake Nyasa in Tanzania and Lago Niassa in Mozambique, () is an African Great Lakes, African Great Lake and the southernmost lake in the East African Rift system, located between Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania. It is ...

, and various species from

Lake Victoria Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. With a surface area of approximately , Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake by area, the world's largest tropics, tropical lake, and the world's second-largest fresh water lake by surface are ...

and

Lake Tanganyika Lake Tanganyika ( ; ) is an African Great Lakes, African Great Lake. It is the world's List of lakes by volume, second-largest freshwater lake by volume and the List of lakes by depth, second deepest, in both cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia. ...

. The Pseudocrenilabrinae

tribes The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

Haplochromini and Oreochromini are widespread in Africa and also found in the Middle East, while Chromidotilapiini, Hemichromini and Tylochromini are primarily West and Central African. The remaining tribes are largely or entirely restricted to Lake Tanganyika.

Systematics

Apart from the tribes mentioned in the adjacent box, Bathybatini,

Benthochromini ''Benthochromis'' is a small genus of planktivorous cichlid fish that are endemic to relatively deep waters in Lake Tanganyika in Africa. Species There are currently three recognized species in this genus: * ''Benthochromis horii'' Tetsumi Taka ...

, Boulengerochromini, Coelotilapiini, Coptodonini, Cyphotilapiini, Eretmodini, Etiini, Greenwoodochromini, Heterotilapiini, Limnochromini, Oreochromini, Pelmatolapiini, Perissodini, Steatocranini and Trematocarini are sometimes also recognized.Dunz; and Schliewen (2013). Molecular phylogeny and revised classification of the haplotilapiine cichlid fishes formerly referred to as Tilapia. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 68: 64-80. The

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

genus '' Mahengechromis'' is purportedly distinct from any of the established Pseudocrenilabrinae tribes.

Genera

The subfamily Pseudocrenilabrinae has been arranged as follows by some authorities

Systematics

Genera

References

Further reading