Acestrorhynchidae

Acestrorhynchidae
Acestrorhynchus pantaneiro
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Characiformes
Suborder:	Characoidei
Family:	Acestrorhynchidae C. H. Eigenmann, 1912 [1]
Type genus
Acestrorhynchus C. H. Eigenmann & C. H. Kennedy, 1903 [1]
Subfamilies
see text

Acestrorhynchidae is a family of freshwater fish in the order Characiformes, found in South America. Members of this family are known as freshwater barracudas (not to be confused with the unrelated true barracudas of the Sphyraenidae) and biting tetras. ^[2]

Until recently, this family contained only the genus Acestrorhynchus . However, taxonomic studies have found that the subfamilies Heterocharacinae (originally placed in the closely related Characidae) and Roestinae (originally placed in the more distantly related Cynodontidae) are actually more closely related to Acestrorhynchus, and now they are also placed in this family. ^{[3] [4] [5]}

The family is classified as follows: ^{[2] [6]}

• Family Acestrorhynchidae
  • Subfamily Acestrorhynchinae C. H. Eigenmann, 1912 (freshwater barracudas)
    • Genus Acestrorhynchus C. H. Eigenmann & C. H. Kennedy, 1903
  • Subfamily Roestinae Lucena & Menezes, 1998 (biting tetras)
    • Genus Gilbertolus C. H. Eigenmann, 1907
    • Genus Roestes Günther, 1864
  • Subfamily Heterocharacinae Géry, 1966 (small biting tetras)
    • Genus Gnathocharax Fowler, 1913
    • Genus Heterocharax C. H. Eigenmann, 1912
    • Genus Hoplocharax Géry, 1966
    • Genus Lonchogenys Myers, 1927

References

1. Richard van der Laan; William N. Eschmeyer & Ronald Fricke (2014). "Family-group names of recent fishes". Zootaxa. 3882 (2): 1–230. doi: 10.11646/zootaxa.3882.1.1 . PMID   25543675.
2. Fricke, R.; Eschmeyer, W. N.; Van der Laan, R. (2025). "ESCHMEYER'S CATALOG OF FISHES: CLASSIFICATION". California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 2025-02-10.
3. MATTOX, GEORGE M. T.; TOLEDO-PIZA, MÔNICA (2012-08-01). "Phylogenetic study of the Characinae (Teleostei: Characiformes: Characidae)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 165 (4): 809–915. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2012.00830.x. ISSN   0024-4082.
4. Campos, Alber Sousa; Favarato, Ramon Marin; Feldberg, Eliana (2020). "Interspecific cytogenetic relationships in three Acestrohynchus species (Acestrohynchinae, Characiformes) reveal the existence of possible cryptic species". Comparative Cytogenetics. 14 (1): 27–42. Bibcode:2020ComCy..14...27C. doi: 10.3897/CompCytogen.v14i1.33483 . ISSN   1993-0771. PMC   6976687 . PMID   31998448.
5. Nelson, Joseph S.; Terry C. Grande; Mark V. H. Wilson (2016). Fishes of the World (5th ed.). John Wiley & Sons. ISBN   9781118342336.
6. Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Acestrorhynchidae". Catalog of Fishes . California Academy of Sciences . Retrieved 29 April 2025.