The Highland splitfin (''Hubbsina turneri'') is a species of

splitfin Goodeidae is a family of teleost fish endemic to Mexico and some areas of the United States. Many species are known as splitfins. This family contains about 50 species within 18 genera. The family is named after ichthyologist George Brown Goode ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

where it is found in the

Lerma River The Lerma River () is Mexico's second longest river. It is a river in west-central Mexico that begins in Mexican Plateau at an altitude over above sea level, and ends where it empties into Lake Chapala, Mexico's largest lake, near Guadalajara, ...

basin. This species grows to a length of TL. It is the only known member of its

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 ...

, although some authorities have ''Hubbina'' as a

subgenus In biology, a subgenus ( subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between the ge ...

of ''

Girardinichthys ''Girardinichthys'' is a genus of splitfins that are endemic to Mexico. These highly threatened fish are native to the upper Lerma and Balsas basins, as well as water systems in the Valley of Mexico. Through man-made channels ''G. viviparus'' h ...

'' and add ''

Girardinichthys ireneae ''Girardinichthys ireneae'' is a species of fish from the family Goodeidae which is endemic to Laguna de Zacapu in Michoacán state of Mexico. Some authorities consider that this taxon is synonymous with '' Hubbsina turneri''. Etymology The sp ...

'' to the subgenus, even treating this taxon as a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

of ''G. ireneae''. This species was described by Don Fernando de Buen y Lozano in 1940 with the type locality given as Cointzio,

Michoacán Michoacán, formally Michoacán de Ocampo, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Michoacán de Ocampo, is one of the 31 states which, together with Mexico City, compose the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The stat ...

. The name of the genus honours the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

ichthyologist Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish (Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 35,800 species of fish had been described as of March 2 ...

Carl Leavitt Hubbs Carl Leavitt Hubbs (October 19, 1894 – June 30, 1979) was an American ichthyologist. Biography Early life Carl Leavitt Hubbs was born in Williams, Arizona, to Charles Leavitt and Elizabeth () Hubbs. His father had a wide variety of jobs (far ...

(1894-1979) while the

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

honours Clarence Lester Turner (1890-1969), thus honouring two ichthyologists who worked on a review of the Goodeidae in 1939.

References

Goodeinae Freshwater fish of Mexico Endemic fish of Mexico Critically endangered biota of Mexico Critically endangered animals Monotypic freshwater fish genera Ray-finned fish genera Taxa named by Fernando de Buen y Lozano Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Lerma River {{Cyprinodontiformes-stub