| Rhinichthys | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Loach minnow (R. cobitis) | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Cypriniformes |
| Family: | Leuciscidae |
| Subfamily: | Pogonichthyinae |
| Genus: | Rhinichthys Agassiz, 1849 [1] |
| Type species | |
| Cyprinus atronasus | |
| Species | |
see text. | |
| Synonyms [1] | |
Rhinichthys, known as the riffle daces, is a genus of freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Leuciscidae, the shiners, daces and minnows. The type species is Rhinichthys atratulus , the blacknose dace. Rhinichthys species range throughout North America.
One of species in this genus, the loach minnow, is considered Vulnerable. It also includes the extinct Las Vegas dace, which was only first described in 1984 and had been declared extinct by 1986. [2] The cheat minnow (Pararhinichthys bowersi), a natural hybrid of the longnose dace (R. cataractae) and the river chub (Nocomis micropogon), was formerly placed in this genus, but is now considered by some authorities to be valid under Pararhinichthys , although this is regarded as a synonyms of Rhinichthys by Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes . [1]
The riffle daces are a basal lineage in an insufficiently resolved clade of American Leuciscidae. Such a group had been proposed on anatomical evidence, and was verified using mtDNA 12S rRNA sequences. [3]
