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Orestias (Cyprinodontidae)
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Orestias is a genus of pupfish. Older systematics classified them into the own family Orestiidae. They are carnivorous plankton feeders and can reach a length between 9 and 22 centimetres. Their most characteristic feature is the absence of the ventral fin. They are endemic in the Lake Titicaca and other lakes of the Altiplano in Peru, Bolivia, and Chile in an altitude up to 3,600 metres asl. Many species of that genus became rare in the past decades due to the competition with introduced fish species, pollution and human activities at the lakes. One species - the Titicaca Orestias (Orestias cuvieri) - was last seen in 1939 and is probably extinct; several others are known only very restricted ranges (Parenti 1984). Several species are colloquially known as carache.
Systematics
The following 43 species belonging to the genus Orestias were divided by American ichthyologist Lynne R. Parenti depending on their relationships into four species complexes in 1984. Lussen (2003) researched the phylogeny of several species including mtDNA sequence data; due to hybridization being known to occur , mtDNA data cannot be relied upon to resolve the evolution of this genus on its own.
Agassii species complex
Orestias agassizii - Carache Negro
Orestias albus - Carache Amarillo
Orestias ascotanensis
Orestias chungarensis
Orestias ctenolepis
Orestias elegans
Orestias empyraeus
Orestias frontosus
Orestias gymnotus
Orestias hardini
Orestias jussiei - Carache Amarillo
Orestias lastarriae
Orestias laucaensis
Orestias luteus - Carache Amarillo
Orestias multiporis
Orestias mundus
Orestias olivaceus
Orestias parinacotensis
Orestias polonorum
Orestias puni
Orestias richersoni
Orestias rotundipinnis
Orestias silustani
Orestias tschudii
Orestias ututo
Cuvieri species complex
Orestias cuvieri - Titicaca Orestias, Amanto; extinct (mid-20th century)
Orestias forgeti - Ispi
Orestias ispi - Ispi
Orestias pentlandii - Boga
Gilsoni species complex
Orestias gilsoni
Orestias imarpe
Orestias minimus
Orestias minutus
Orestias mooni
Orestias robustus
Orestias taquiri
Orestias tchernavini
Orestias tomcooni
Orestias uruni
Mulleri species complex
Orestias crawfordi
Orestias gracilis
Orestias incae
Orestias mulleri
Orestias tutini
References
(2003): Zur Systematik, Phylogenie und Biogeographie chilenischer Arten der Gattung Orestias VALENCIENNES, 1839. Doctoral thesis, University of Hamburg, Germany. [in German] PDF fulltext
(1984): A taxonomic revision of the Andean Killifish Genus Orestias . Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 178: 107-214. PDF fulltext
(1964): Vermeintliche Artbastarde in der Gattung Orestias . Mitteilungen aus dem Hamburgischen Zoologischen Museum und Institut, Kosswig-Festschrift: 285-291. [Article in German]
(1972): Gefahren fur die endemische Fischfauna durch Einburgerungsversuche und Akklimatisation von Fremdfischen am Beispiel des Titicacas-Sees (Peru/Bolivien) und des Lanao-Sees (Mindanao/Philippinen). Verhandlungen des Internationalen Vereins fur Limnologie 18: 1227-1234. [Article in German]
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Orestias (Cyprinodontidae)