Makunaima

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Makunaima
Astyanax guaporensis illustration (1917).jpg
1917 illustration of Makunaima guaporensis, the type species
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Characiformes
Family: Acestrorhamphidae
Subfamily: Megalamphodinae
Genus: Makunaima
Terán, Benitez & Mirande, 2020 [1]
Type species
Astyanax guaporensis

Makunaima is a genus of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the family Acestrorhamphidae, the American tetras. The fishes in this genus are found in South America.

Contents

Taxonomy and systematics

Makunaima was formally proposed as a genus by the Argentine ichthyologists Guillermo Enrique Terán, Mauricio F. Benítez and Juan Marcos Mirande in 2020. The species within this genus were formerly allocated to Astyanax [2] or Moenkhausia . [3] The type species of the genus was designated as Astyanax guaporensis, [1] which was first formally described in 1909 by Carl H. Eigenmann with its type locality given as the Rio Guaporé at Maciel, Brazil. [3] This genus is classified within the subfamily Megalamphodinae, the red tetras, [4] of the American tetra family Acestrorhamphidae within the suborder Characoidei of the order Characiformes. [5]

Etymology

Etymologically, the genus name alludes to "Makunaima" (also transcribed as "Macunaima" or "Makonaima"), the name of a creator god for various ethnic groups in the Amazon. [2]

Species

Makunaima contains the following valid species: [3]

Distribution

Makunaima are found in South America where they are occur in the Essequibo, Amazon and Orinoco drainages in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Guyana and Vevezuela; with one species M. pittieri, being endemic to the drainage basin of Lake Valencia in Venezuela. [3]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Megalamphodinae". Catalog of Fishes . California Academy of Sciences . Retrieved 10 October 2025.
  2. 1 2 Guillermo E. Terán; Mauricio F. Benitez; J. Marcos Mirande (2020). "Opening the Trojan horse: phylogeny of Astyanax, two new genera and resurrection of Psalidodon (Teleostei: Characidae)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 190 (4): 1217–1234. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa019.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Makunaima". Catalog of Fishes . California Academy of Sciences . Retrieved 10 October 2025.
  4. Christopher Scharpf (3 October 2025). "Family ACESTRORHAMPHIDAE Eigenmann 1907 (American Tetras)". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf. Retrieved 10 October 2025.
  5. Richard van der Laan; William N. Eschmeyer; Ronald Fricke. "Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes Classification". Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes . California Academy of Sciences . Retrieved 9 October 2025.