''Plesiolebias'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Rivulidae The Rivulidae are a family of killifishes in the order Cyprinodontiformes. They are commonly known as rivulids, South American killifish or New World killifish. The latter names are slightly misleading, however, as they are neither restricted to ...

. These annual

killifish A killifish is any of various oviparous (egg-laying) cyprinodontiform fish (including families Aplocheilidae, Cyprinodontidae, Fundulidae, Profundulidae and Valenciidae). All together, there are 1,270 species of killifish, the biggest famil ...

are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found 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 found els ...

to seasonal pools, swamps and lagoons in the Araguaia–

Tocantins Tocantins () is one of the 26 states of Brazil. It is the newest state, formed in 1988 and encompassing what had formerly been the northern two-fifths of the state of Goiás. Tocantins covers and had an estimated population of 1,496,880 in 2 ...

, Xingu, and uppermost

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

(

Pantanal The Pantanal () is a natural region encompassing the world's largest tropical wetland area, and the world's largest flooded grasslands. It is located mostly within the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, but it extends into Mato Grosso and po ...

) river basins in Brazil. They are small fish, up to in

total length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies. These data are used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fisheries biology. Overall length * Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish ...

. As typical of killifish, males are more colorful than females.

Species

''Plesiolebias'' and the closely related ''

Maratecoara ''Maratecoara'' is a genus of killifish in the family Rivulidae. These annual killifish are endemic to seasonal pools, swamps and lagoons in the upper Araguaia–Tocantins and middle Xingu river basins in Brazil. Most are from savanna regions, ...

'', ''

Papiliolebias ''Papiliolebias'' is a genus of fish in the family Rivulidae. These annual killifish are endemic to seasonal pools in the Paraguay and upper Madeira river basins in northwestern Argentina, central and southeastern Bolivia, and western Paraguay.Ni ...

'', '' Pituna'' and ''

Stenolebias ''Stenolebias'' is a genus of fish in the family Rivulidae. These relatively rare annual killifish are endemic to seasonal waters in the Pantanal in Brazil. They are small fish, up to in total length. Species ''Stenolebias'' and the closely r ...

'' form a clade, Plesiolebiasini. There are currently eight recognized species in ''Plesiolebias'': * '' Plesiolebias altamira'' W. J. E. M. Costa & D. T. B. Nielsen, 2007 * '' Plesiolebias aruana'' ( Lazara, 1991) * '' Plesiolebias canabravensis'' W. J. E. M. Costa & D. T. B. Nielsen, 2007 * '' Plesiolebias filamentosus'' W. J. E. M. Costa & G. C. Brasil, 2007 * '' Plesiolebias fragilis'' W. J. E. M. Costa, 2007 * '' Plesiolebias glaucopterus'' ( W. J. E. M. Costa & Lacerda, 1989) * '' Plesiolebias lacerdai'' W. J. E. M. Costa, 1989 * '' Plesiolebias xavantei'' ( W. J. E. M. Costa, Lacerda & Tanizaki, 1988)

References

Rivulidae Freshwater fish genera {{Cyprinodontiformes-stub