''Chalceus'' is a genus of fish that inhabits freshwater habitats in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the souther ...

. Members can be found in the

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

and

Orinoco The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers , with 76.3 percent of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia. It is the fourth largest river in the wo ...

basins, as well as in the

Guianas The Guianas, sometimes called by the Spanish loan-word ''Guayanas'' (''Las Guayanas''), is a region in north-eastern South America which includes the following three territories: * French Guiana, an overseas department and region of France * ...

and various tributaries of the former. It is the sole representative of the family Chalceidae.

Description

Members of the genus ''Chalceus'' typically reach a length of 15–25 cm (6–10 in), but are up to about 30 cm (12 in). They have an elongated shape, and relatively large scales. Their fins are a variety of colors, most commonly red, yellow, or

hyaline A hyaline substance is one with a glassy appearance. The word is derived from el, ὑάλινος, translit=hyálinos, lit=transparent, and el, ὕαλος, translit=hýalos, lit=crystal, glass, label=none. Histopathology Hyaline cartilage is ...

, with a red or pink tail being the most common.

Classification

''Chalceus'' was previously classified as a member of the family

Characidae Characidae, the characids or characins is a family of freshwater subtropical and tropical fish, belonging to the order Characiformes. The name "characins" is the historical one, but scientists today tend to prefer "characids" to reflect their s ...

, and is still listed there by some authorities (like

GBIF The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) is an international organisation that focuses on making scientific data on biodiversity available via the Internet using web services. The data are provided by many institutions from around th ...

and

ITIS The Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) is an American partnership of federal agencies designed to provide consistent and reliable information on the taxonomy of biological species. ITIS was originally formed in 1996 as an interagenc ...

). However, recent

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...

and morphological analysis has prompted a move into the family Chalceidae, which is currently home only to the genus ''Chalceus'' (making it

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

).Oliveira, C., Avelino, G.S., Abe, K.T., Mariguela, T.C., Benine, R.C., Orti, G., Vari, R.P., & Correa e Castro, R.M. (2011)
Phylogenetic relationships within the speciose family Characidae (Teleostei: Ostariophysi: Characiformes) based on multilocus analysis and extensive ingroup sampling.
''BMC Evolutionary Biology, 11: 275. doi: 10.1186/1471-2148-11-275'' This move was also done in order to keep the family Charadicae monophyletic. Currently, there are five accepted species in the genus ''Chalceus''. In alphabetical order, they are: * '' Chalceus epakros'' Zanata & Toledo-Piza, 2004 * '' Chalceus erythrurus''

Cope The cope (known in Latin as ''pluviale'' 'rain coat' or ''cappa'' 'cape') is a liturgical vestment, more precisely a long mantle or cloak, open in front and fastened at the breast with a band or clasp. It may be of any liturgical colours, litu ...

, 1870 (tucan fish) * '' Chalceus guaporensis'' Zanata & Toledo-Piza, 2004 * '' Chalceus macrolepidotus'' G. Cuvier, 1818 (pinktail chalceus) * '' Chalceus spilogyros'' Zanata & Toledo-Piza, 2004

History

The genus ''Chalceus'' was established by

Georges Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, Baron Cuvier (; 23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier, was a French naturalist and zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuvier was a major figure in na ...

in the year 1818 when he described the pinktail chalceus (''C. marcolepidotus'') as a new species in a new genus. By way of monotypy, the pinktail became the type species therein. The next established species was the tucan fish, ''C. erythrurus'', which was named by

Edward Drinker Cope Edward Drinker Cope (July 28, 1840 – April 12, 1897) was an American zoologist, paleontologist, comparative anatomist, herpetologist, and ichthyologist. Born to a wealthy Quaker family, Cope distinguished himself as a child prodigy intereste ...

in 1870, though he first classified it in the genus ''Plethodectes'' with the full name ''Plethodectes erythrurus''. In 1872, he moved it to ''Chalceus''. A full redescription of the genus occurred in the year 2004, undertaken by Brazilian biologists

Angela M. Zanata Angela may refer to: Places * Angela, Montana * Angela Lake, in Volusia County, Florida * Lake Angela, in Lyon Township, Oakland County, Michigan * Lake Angela, the reservoir impounded by the source dam of the South Yuba River Fiction * An ...

and Mônica Toledo-Piza, which resulted in the nomination of the other three species.

Etymology

The name ''Chalceus'' is Greek in origin and comes from the word chalkos, which means copper. This was given by Cuvier because he observed that the original specimen's scales were "sometimes golden" when preserved in alcohol.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q292928 Chalceidae Fish of South America Taxa named by Georges Cuvier Ray-finned fish genera