''Aphaniops'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

killifish A killifish is any of various oviparous (egg-laying) cyprinodontiform fish, including families Aplocheilidae, Pantanodontidae, Cyprinodontidae, Fundulidae, Nothobranchiidae, Profundulidae, Aphaniidae and Valenciidae. All together, there ar ...

es in the family

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 ...

, which are native to Western Asia (including

Asia Minor Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

and

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

), Northeast Africa and east to southwest

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. Several species in the genus have very limited distribution and may be

threatened A threatened species is any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which is vulnerable to extinction in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensatio ...

Etymology

The generic name is derived from ''

Aphanius ''Aphanius'', commonly referred to as Mediterranean killifish, is a genus of the order Cyprinodontiformes in the family Aphaniidae. They are found in fresh and brackish waters in the coastal plains of the Mediterranean region. Taxonomy and syst ...

'', and '' -opsis'' meaning "appearance". It is a

sister genus 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 t ...

to ''Aphanius'' and '' Paraphanius''.

Species

There are nine valid species: * '' Aphaniops dispar'' Rüppell, 1829 (Arabian toothcarp) * '' Aphaniops furcatus'' Teimori, Esmaeili, Erpenbeck & Reichenbacher, 2014Teimori, A., Esmaeili, H.R., Erpenbeck, D. & Reichenbacher, B. (2014): A new and unique species of the genus ''Aphanius'' Nardo, 1827 (Teleostei: Cyprinodontidae) from Southern Iran: A case of regressive evolution. ''Zoologischer Anzeiger – A Journal of Comparative Zoology, 253 (4): 327-337.'' * '' Aphaniops ginaonis''

Holly ''Ilex'' () or holly is a genus of over 570 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. ''Ilex'' has the most species of any woody dioecious angiosperm genus. The species are evergreen o ...

, 1929 * '' Aphaniops hormuzensis'' (Teimori, Esmaeili, Hamidan & Reichenbacher, 2018) * '' Aphaniops kruppi'' (Freyhof, Weissenbacher & Geiger, 2017) * '' Aphaniops richardsoni'' (Boulenger, 1907) (Dead Sea toothcarp) * '' Aphaniops sirhani'' Villwock, Scholl &

Krupp Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp (formerly Fried. Krupp AG and Friedrich Krupp GmbH), trade name, trading as Krupp, was the largest company in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century as well as Germany's premier weapons manufacturer dur ...

, 1983 (Azraq toothcarp) * '' Aphaniops stiassnyae'' Getahun & Lazara, 2001 (Lake Afdera killifish) * '' Aphaniops stoliczkanus'' (Day, 1872)

Etymology

Species

References

Further reading