Notropis megalops
| Notropis megalops | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Cypriniformes |
| Family: | Leuciscidae |
| Subfamily: | Pogonichthyinae |
| Genus: | Notropis |
| Species: | N. megalops
|
| Binomial name | |
| Notropis megalops Girard, 1856
| |
| Synonyms[1] | |
| |
Notropis megalops, the West Texas shiner, is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish from the family Leuciscidae, the shiners, daces and minnows. It was originally described by the French ichthyologist Charles Frédéric Girard in 1856 but was thought to be a misidentification for the Texas shiner (Notropis amiabilis) but detailed genetic and morphological studies have shown that N. megalops and N. amabilis are two valid but separate species. N. megalops has been found only in the drainage of the Rio Grande where it has a fragmented distribution and low levels of genetic diversity.[2] Notropis megalops is endemic to the Rio Grande drainage of Texas and in Coahuila and Nuevo León in Mexico and does not overlap with N. amiabilis and despite their morphological similarity they do not appear to be closely related.[3]
References
- ^ Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Notropis". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 17 March 2025.
- ^ Steve Byrns (5 April 2016). "'Forgotten' fish turns up in West Texas". Science Daily. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
- ^ Kevin W. Conway; Daemin Kim (2016). "Redescription of the Texas Shiner Notropis amabilis from the southwestern United States and northern Mexico with the reinstatement of N. megalops (Teleostei: Cyprinidae)". Ichthyol. Explor. Freshwaters. 26 (4): 305–340.