Pyrrhulina

Pyrrhulina
Pyrrhulina sp.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Characiformes
Family:	Lebiasinidae
Subfamily:	Pyrrhulininae
Genus:	Pyrrhulina Valenciennes, 1846 [1]
Type species
Pyrrhulina filamentosa Valenciennes, 1847 [1]
Species
See text
Synonyms [1]
Holotaxis Cope, 1870

Pyrrhulina is a genus of freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Lebiasinidae, the pencil fishes, splash tetras and related fishes. ^[1] The species in this genus are found in tropical South America. Several of these species are popular aquarium fish. ^[2]

Pyrrhulina is closely related to Copeina and Copella , although it is distinguished from the former by having only one row of teeth (Copeina spp. have two). When the genus Copella was established, many species were removed from the genus Pyrrhulina and placed there, because differences in the maxillary bones in the males had been detected. Copella species are slimmer and more elongated than those species that remained in the genus Pyrrhulina.

Species

Pyrrhulina contains the following valid species: ^[3]

• Pyrrhulina australis C. H. Eigenmann & C. H. Kennedy, 1903
• Pyrrhulina beni N. E. Pearson, 1924
• Pyrrhulina brevis Steindachner, 1876
• Pyrrhulina capim Vieira & Netto-Ferreira, 2019
• Pyrrhulina eleanorae Fowler, 1940
• Pyrrhulina elongata Zarske & Géry, 2001
• Pyrrhulina filamentosa Valenciennes, 1847
• Pyrrhulina laeta (Cope, 1872) (halfbanded pyrrhulina)
• Pyrrhulina lugubris C. H. Eigenmann, 1922
• Pyrrhulina marilynae Netto-Ferreira & Marinho, 2013
• Pyrrhulina maxima C. H. Eigenmann & R. S. Eigenmann, 1889
• Pyrrhulina melanostoma (Cope, 1870) (blackmouth pyrrhulina)
• Pyrrhulina obermulleri G. S. Myers, 1926
• Pyrrhulina rachoviana G. S. Myers, 1926 (fanning pyrrhulina)
• Pyrrhulina semifasciata Steindachner, 1876
• Pyrrhulina spilota S. H. Weitzman, 1960
• Pyrrhulina stoli Boeseman, 1953
• Pyrrhulina vittata Regan, 1912 (banded pyrrhulina)
• Pyrrhulina zigzag Zarske & Géry, 1997

Taxonomy

Pyrrhulina was first proposed as a monospecific genus in 1846 by the French zoologist Achille Valenciennes when he described Pyrrhulina filamentosa as a new species, and the only species in the new genus Pyrrhulina. ^[1] The type locality of P. filamentosa was given as Suriname. ^[3] Pyrrhulina is classified within the subfamily Pyrrhulinae of the family Lebiasinidae, which also includes the pencil fishes and splash tetras, within the suborder Characoidei of the order Characiformes. ^[4]

Etymology

Pyrrhulina adds the suffix -ina, which means "to have the nature of", onto pyrrhós, meaninf "flame coloured", apparently an allusion to the overall red coour of the type species, P. filamentosa. ^[5]

Environment

Freshwater; benthopelagic. Tropical ^[6]

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm 2.2 Max length : 5.0 cm SL male/unsexed. ^[7]

References

1. Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Pyrrhulininae". Catalog of Fishes . California Academy of Sciences . Retrieved 8 August 2025.
2. Günther Sterba, ed. (1983). "Pyrrhulina". The Aquarist's Encyclopaedia. Edition Leipzig.
3. Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Pyrrhulina". Catalog of Fishes . California Academy of Sciences . Retrieved 8 August 2025.
4. Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard. "Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes Classification". California Academy of Sciences . Retrieved 8 August 2025.
5. Christopher Scharpf (11 June 2025). "Family LEBIASINIDAE Gill 1889 (Pencilfishes)". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf. Retrieved 8 August 2025.
6. "Pyrrhulina australis". Fishbase.
7. "Pyrrhulina australis".