Apareiodon


Apareiodon is a genus of freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Parodontidae, the scrapetooths. The fishes in this genus are found in the Neotropics, where they occur as far south as Río de la Plata.

Taxonomy

Apareiodon was first proposed as a genus by the American ichthyologist Carl H. Eigenamnn in Volume 10 of the Annals of Carnegie Museum, published in 1916. When he proposed the genus, Eigenmann designated Parodon piracicabae as its type species. P. piracicabae was first formally described by Eigenmann in An annotated list of characin fishes in the United States National Museum and the Museum of Indiana University, with descriptions of new species, cowritten with Fletcher Ogle in volume 33 of Proceedings of [the United States National Museum], published in 1907, with its type locality given as Piracicaba on the Piracicaba River in Estado de São Paulo, Brazil. Apareiodon is classified within the family Parodontidae, the scrapetooths, within the suborder Characoidei of the order Characiformes.

Species

Apareiodon contains the following species:Apareiodon affinis Apareiodon agmatos Taphorn, López-Fernández & C. R. Bernard, 2008Apareiodon argenteus Pavanelli & Britski, 2003Apareiodon cavalcante Pavanelli & Britski, 2003Apareiodon davisi Fowler, 1941Apareiodon gransabana W. C. Starnes & I. Schindler, 1993Apareiodon hasemani C. H. Eigenmann, 1916Apareiodon ibitiensis Amaral Campos, 1944Apareiodon itapicuruensis C. H. Eigenmann & Henn, 1916Apareiodon machrisi Travassos, 1957Apareiodon piracicabae Apareiodon tigrinus Pavanelli & Britski, 2003Apareiodon vittatus Garavello, 1977Apareiodon vladii Pavanelli, 2006

Etymology

Apareiodon puts the prefix a-, which means "without" in Greek, in front of pareia, meaning "cheek", combined with odon, which is a Latinised derivative of the Greek oudos, meaning "teeth". This is an allusion to the absence of lateral teeth in the lower jaw.

Characteristics

Apareiodon was described by Eignemann as being distinguished from Parodon by the lack of teeth in the side of the lower jaw, and by the ampullae on the upturned margin of the maxilla, with which the teeth are associated on Parodon, being less well developed in this genus. These are small fishes with lengths ranging from a standard length of in A. cavalcante, to a total length of in A. affinis.

Distribution

Apareiodon scrapetooths are found in southern Central and South America, from Panama south to the Río de la Plata catchment.