''Parodon'' 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 ...

of freshwater

ray-finned fishes Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fish or actinopterygians, is a class (biology), class of Osteichthyes, bony fish that comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. They are so called because of their lightly built ...

belonging to the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Parodontidae The Parodontidae are a family of fresh water fish of the order Characiformes. The three genera include about 32 species, though several are undescribed. These fish are generally benthic and live in mountain streams of eastern Panama and South Am ...

, the scrapetooths. The fishes in this genus are from the tropical and subtropical

Neotropics The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In biogeog ...

, their distribution extending as far south as the

Río de la Plata The Río de la Plata (; ), also called the River Plate or La Plata River in English, is the estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River at Punta Gorda, Colonia, Punta Gorda. It empties into the Atlantic Ocean and ...

Taxonomy

''Parodon'' was first proposed as a genus in 1850 by the French

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

Achille Valenciennes Achille Valenciennes (9 August 1794 – 13 April 1865) was a French zoology, zoologist. Valenciennes was born in Paris, and studied under Georges Cuvier. His study of parasitic worms in humans made an important contribution to the study of parasi ...

in volume 22 of his and

Georges Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, baron Cuvier (23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier (; ), was a French natural history, naturalist and zoology, zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuv ...

's '' Histoire naturelle des poissons''. Valenciennes proposed it as a

monospecific genus 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 "unispe ...

with ''Parodon suborbitalis'' as its only species, this species being the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

monotypy 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 "unispe ...

. ''P. suborbitale'' was first formally described, as ''Parodon suborbitale'', by Valenciennes in the same volume as he proposed the genus and its type locality was given as

Lake Maracaibo Lake Maracaibo () is located in northwestern Venezuela, between the states of Zulia, Trujillo, and Mérida. While Maracaibo is commonly referred to as a lake, its current hydrological characteristics may better classify it as estuary and/or ...

in Venezuela. ''Parodon'' is the

type genus In biological taxonomy, the type genus (''genus typica'') is the genus which defines a biological family and the root of the family name. Zoological nomenclature According to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, "The name-bearin ...

of the family Parodontidae, the scrapetooths, which is classified within the

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 ...

Characoidei of the

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

Characiformes Characiformes is an order of ray-finned fish, comprising the characins and their allies. Grouped in 18 recognized families, more than 2000 different species are described, including the well-known piranha and tetras.; Buckup P.A.: "Relationsh ...

Etymology

''Parodon'' is a combination of ''par'', which means "even", and ''odon'', which is a Latinised derivative of the Greek ''oudos'', meaning "teeth". This is a reference to the cusps of the teeth of the type species all being even.

Species

''Parodon'' contains the following valid species:Parodon alfonsoi'' Londoño-Burbano, Román-Valencia & Taphorn, 2011 * '' Parodon apolinari'' G. S. Myers, 1930 * '' Parodon atratoensis'' Londoño-Burbano, Román-Valencia & Taphorn, 2011 * '' Parodon bifasciatus'' C. H. Eigenmann, 1912 * '' Parodon buckleyi'' Boulenger, 1887 * '' Parodon caliensis'' Boulenger, 1895 * '' Parodon carrikeri'' Fowler, 1940 * '' Parodon guyanensis''

Géry Géry () is a commune in the Meuse department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. See also *Communes of the Meuse department The following is a list of the 499 Communes of France, communes of the Meuse (department), Meuse Departments of ...

, 1959 * '' Parodon hilarii'' J. T. Reinhardt, 1867 * '' Parodon magdalenensis'' Londoño-Burbano, Román-Valencia & Taphorn, 2011 * '' Parodon moreirai'' Ingenito & Buckup, 2005 * '' Parodon nasus'' Kner, 1859 * '' Parodon orinocensis'' ( Bonilla, Machado-Allison, Silvera,

Chernoff Chernoff may be either a Jewish surname, meaning "descendent of Charna" or a German-language transliteration of the Russian surname Chernov. Notable people with the surname include: * Herman Chernoff (born 1923), American applied mathematician, st ...

López López or Lopez is a surname of Spanish origin. It was originally a patronymic, meaning "Son of Lope", ''Lope'' itself being a Spanish given name deriving from Latin ''lupus'', meaning "wolf". Its Portuguese and Galician equivalent is '' Lopes' ...

Lasso A lasso or lazo ( or ), also called reata or la reata in Mexico, and in the United States riata or lariat (from Mexican Spanish lasso for roping cattle), is a loop of rope designed as a restraint to be thrown around a target and tightened when ...

, 1999) * '' Parodon pongoensis'' ( W. R. Allen, 1942) (Pongo characin) * '' Parodon suborbitalis''

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; ; or ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced ...

, 1850

Characteristics

''Parodon'' scrapetooths are distinguished from other scrapetooths by the possession of small lateral teeth on the sides of their lower jaws, these are absent in the two other genera of scrapetooth, ''

Apareiodon ''Apareiodon'' is a genus of freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Parodontidae, the scarpetooths. The fishies in this genus are found in the Neotropics, where they occur as far south as Río de la Plata. Taxonomy ''Apareiodon'' ...

'' and ''

Saccodon ''Saccodon'' is a genus of freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Parodontidae, the scrapetooths. The fishes in this genus are found in the Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena region from Panama to northwestern Peru. Taxonomy ''Saccodon'' was ...

''. Within the genus the spoecies were thought to be distinguishable by the shape of the teeth but the teeth of these fishes are small and weak, so are easily broken or missed. This has led to the misidentification of

specimen Specimen may refer to: Science and technology * Sample (material), a limited quantity of something which is intended to be similar to and represent a larger amount * Biological specimen or biospecimen, an organic specimen held by a biorepository f ...

s and taxonomic uncertainty and instability. For ''Parodon'' the count of cusps on the teeth is now considered to be the most reliable feature to identify species as are the colour and pattern of the body and the types of teeth. These fishes vary in maximum length from in ''P. bifasciatus'' to in ''P. hilarii''.

Distribution

''Parodon'' scrapetooths are found in the Neotropics in most of the drainage systems from Panama south to Argentina but they are not found in

Bahia State Bahia () is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro (state), Rio de Janeiro) and the 5th-largest ...

, Brazil or

Patagonia Patagonia () is a geographical region that includes parts of Argentina and Chile at the southern end of South America. The region includes the southern section of the Andes mountain chain with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and glaciers ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7139379 Fish of South America Taxa named by Achille Valenciennes Parodontidae