Cyprinodontoidei is a

suborder Order () is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between family and class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and recognized ...

of fishes, one of the two suborders in the order

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 ...

. The Cyprinodontoidei consists of eleven families which are found in the Americas, the Mediterranean and in Africa, including Madagascar.

Classification

The Cyprinodontoidei is subdivided into the following families: * Suborder Cyprinodontoidei ** Family Pantanodontidae Myers, 1955 (spine killifishes) ** Family Fundulidae Günther, 1866 (topminnows) ** Family Cyprinodontidae Wagner, 1828 (pupfishes) ** Family Profundulidae Hoedeman & Bronner, 1951 (Middle American killifishes) ** Family Goodeidae

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

& Gilbert, 1883 (splitfins or goodeids) ** Family Fluviphylacidae Roberts, 1970 (American lampeyes) ** Family Anablepidae Bonaparte, 1831 (four-eyed fish) ** Family Poecilidae Bonaparte, 1831 (livebearers) ** Family Aphaniidae Sethi, 1960 (Oriental killifishes) ** Family Valenciidae Parenti, 1981 (Valencia toothcarps) ** Family Procatopodidae Fowler, 1916 (African lampeyes) In the past, the suborder was divided into the superfamilies Funduloidea,

Valencioidea ''Valencia'' is the only genus in the family Valenciidae. ''Valencia'' is a genus of ray-finned fishes. It was formerly grouped into the family Cyprinodontidae, but more recent studies support it being its own family most closely related to th ...

, Cyprinodontoidea, and Poeciloidea. However, this treatment is now known to be

paraphyletic Paraphyly is a taxonomic term describing a grouping that consists of the grouping's last common ancestor and some but not all of its descendant lineages. The grouping is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In co ...

. For example, Pantanodontidae was formerly treated as a genus within Procatopodidae, which itself was treated as a subfamily of Poecilidae. However, genetic evidence supports Pantanodontidae actually being the most basal member of the suborder, and the Procatopodidae to be distinct from the Poecilidae. Indeterminate fossil teeth of a cyprinodontoid (identified to the Cyprinodontidae, but under an older treatment of the group that included several other families such as the Aphaniidae) are known from the Kuldana Formation of Pakistan, representing one of the earliest records of the group. Indeterminate fossil scales assigned to the dubious species ''Cyprinodon primulus'' are known from the

Late Paleocene The Thanetian is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy, ICS Geologic timescale, the latest age (geology), age or uppermost stage (stratigraphy), stratigraphic stage of the Paleocene epoch (geology), Epoch or series (stratigraphy), Serie ...

of Argentina, representing a potentially older record. Guppy 04

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1148354 Cyprinodontiformes Taxa named by Lynne R. Parenti