Misplaced Pages

Vieja

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Genus of fishes For the Colombian river, see La Vieja River. For the Spanish mission, see Mission Vieja.

Vieja
Vieja maculicauda
Vieja melanurus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Cichliformes
Family: Cichlidae
Tribe: Heroini
Genus: Vieja
Fernández-Yépez, 1969
Synonyms
  • Paratheraps Werner & Stawikowski, 1987

Vieja is a genus of cichlid fish from Central America and Mexico. The majority of the species are freshwater fish found in stagnant or slow-moving waters of southern Mexico to El Salvador, but V. maculicauda, which also occurs in brackish waters, ranges south to Panama. They are high-bodied cichlids that reach lengths of up to 17–35 cm (7–14 in) depending on the exact species. Vieja feed mostly on vegetable matter, but may also take small invertebrates.

Taxonomy and species

Historically, Vieja was included in Cichlasoma. Once recognized as its own genus, it sometimes included most of the superficially similar, relatively large and high-bodied cichlids of Central America and southern Mexico, but several of these are now considered to belong to separate genera: Chuco, Cincelichthys, Isthmoheros, Kihnichthys, Maskaheros and Oscura (Oscuro might still be better merged with Vieja, but this remains unconfirmed). Conversely, Vieja has sometimes been included in Paraneetroplus.

There are currently 8 recognized species in the genus Vieja:

In addition to these, two further species have commonly been recognized: The first is V. coatlicue, but today it is usually considered the Atlantic slope population of V. zonata. The second is V. synspilum, in which case V. melanurus is limited to the Lake Petén system, but a review found that the supposed differences between them are invalid.

Because of individual, regional and age-related variations, definite separation of some species can be difficult. Furthermore, hybrids occur, sometimes even between a Vieja species and a species from another heroine genus. The enigmatic Amphilophus margaritifer, sometimes still recognized as a valid species, is most likely a hybrid involving Thorichthys and Vieja.

References

  1. ^ McMahan, C.D.; Matamoros, W.A.; Piller, K.R.; Chakrabarty, P. (2015). "Taxonomy and systematics of the herichthyins (Cichlidae: Tribe Heroini), with the description of eight new Middle American Genera" (PDF). Zootaxa. 3999 (2): 211–234. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3999.2.3. PMID 26623572.
  2. ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Species in genus Vieja". FishBase. July 2020 version.
  3. ^ Říčan, O.; Piálek, L.; Dragová, K. & Novák, J. (2016). "Diversity and evolution of the Middle American cichlid fishes (Teleostei: Cichlidae) with revised classification". Vertebrate Zoology. 66 (1): 1–102. doi:10.3897/vz.66.e31534.
  4. McMahan, C.D.; Matamoros, W.A.; Elías, D.J.; Piller, K.R. (2019). "Species or population? Systematic status of Vieja coatlicue (Teleostei: Cichlidae)". Neotropical Ichthyology. 17 (2): e190004. doi:10.1590/1982-0224-20190004.
  5. McMahan, C.D.; Murray, C.M.; Geheber, A.D.; Boeckman, C.D.; Piller, K.R. (2011). "Paraneetroplus synspilus is a Junior Synonym of Paraneetroplus melanurus (Teleostei: Cichlidae)". Zootaxa. 2833: 1–14. doi:10.11646/ZOOTAXA.2833.1.1.
  6. Gómez-González, A.E.; Álvarez, F.; Matamoros, W.A.; Velázquez-Velázquez, E.; Schmitter-Soto, J.J.; González-Díaz, A.A.; McMahan, C.D. (2018). "Redescription of Vieja hartwegi (Taylor & Miller 1980) (Teleostei: Cichlidae) from the Grijalva River basin, Mexico and Guatemala, with description of a rheophilic morph". Zootaxa. 4375 (3): 371–391. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4375.3.5. PMID 29690077.
  7. Říčan, Oldřich; Morgenstern, Rico (2018). "Hybrids, not a new rheophilic morph of Vieja hartwegi" (PDF). doi:10.13140/RG.2.2.14727.09123. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
  8. Morgenstern, R. (2015). "Anmerkungen zur Herkunft und Identität von Heros margaritifer Günther, 1862". DCG-Informationen. 46 (1): 2–9.
Taxon identifiers
Vieja


Stub icon

This Cichlidae-related article is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

Categories: