Heterocharacinae

Heterocharacinae
Heterocharax sp.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Characiformes
Family:	Acestrorhynchidae
Subfamily:	Heterocharacinae Géry, 1966 [1]
Type genus
Heterocharax C. H. Eigenmann, 1912 [1]

Heterocharacinae is a subfamily of freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Acestrorhynchidae, the fishes in this subfamily are known as small biting tetras. These fishes are found in South America.

Until recently, the family Acestrorhynchidae 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. ^{[2] [3] [4]}

Genera

Heterocharacinae contains the following genera: ^[5]

• Gnathocharax Fowler, 1913
• Heterocharax C. H. Eigenmann, 1912
• Hoplocharax Géry, 1966
• 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. 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.
3. 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.
4. Nelson, Joseph S.; Terry C. Grande; Mark V. H. Wilson (2016). Fishes of the World (5th ed.). John Wiley & Sons. ISBN   9781118342336.
5. Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Heterocharacinae". Catalog of Fishes . California Academy of Sciences . Retrieved 27 August 2025.