Nothobranchius
Nothobranchius, known as nothobranchs or simply nothos, is a genus of small, freshwater killifish, classified in the family Nothobranchiidae in the order Cyprinodontiformes. There are about a hundred species in the genus, many with very small distributions. They are primarily native to East Africa from Sudan to northern South Africa, whereas a dozen species are found in the upper Congo River Basin, with the greatest species richness being in Tanzania.
Nothobranchius typically inhabit ephemeral pools that are filled only during the monsoon season, and show extreme life-history adaptations to survive the dry season. When their habitats dry up, the adult fish die and the eggs survive encased in the clay during the dry season. The embryos survive the dry season by entering diapause, facilitated by their specialized eggs that have a very hard chorion and are resistant to desiccation and hypoxia. These species reach maturity very quickly once diapause is broken and have a very short life span; one species, Nothobranchius furzeri, reaches maturity in 17 days and seldom lives beyond 6 months.
Etymology
The genus name Nothobranchius comes from Ancient Greek νόθος, meaning 'crossbred', and βράγχιος, meaning 'with gills'.Species
There are 96 recognized species in this genus:- Nothobranchius albertinensis Nagy, Watters & Bellstedt, 2020
- Nothobranchius albimarginatus Watters, Wildekamp & Cooper, 1998
- Nothobranchius angelae Watters, Nagy & Bellstedt, 2019
- Nothobranchius annectens Watters, Wildekamp & Cooper, 1998
- Nothobranchius attenboroughi Nagy, Watters & Bellstedt, 2020
- Nothobranchius balamaensis Bragança & Chakona, 2022
- Nothobranchius bellemansi Valdesalici, 2014
- Nothobranchius bojiensis Wildekamp & Haas, 1992
- Nothobranchius boklundi Valdesalici, 2010
- Nothobranchius brieni Poll, 1938
- Nothobranchius capriviensis Watters, Wildekamp & Shidlovskiy, 2015
- Nothobranchius cardinalis Watters, Cooper & Wildekamp, 2008
- Nothobranchius chochamandai Nagy, 2014
- Nothobranchius cooperi Nagy, Watters & Bellstedt, 2017
- Nothobranchius derhami Valdesalici & Amato, 2019
- Nothobranchius ditte Nagy, 2018
- Nothobranchius eggersi Seegers, 1982
- Nothobranchius elongatus Wildekamp, 1982
- Nothobranchius elucens Nagy, 2021
- Nothobranchius fasciatus Wildekamp & Haas, 1992
- Nothobranchius flagrans Nagy, 2014
- Nothobranchius flammicomantis Wildekamp, Watters & Sainthouse, 1998
- Nothobranchius foerschi Wildekamp & Berkenkamp, 1979
- Nothobranchius furzeri Jubb, 1971
- Nothobranchius fuscotaeniatus Seegers, 1997
- Nothobranchius geminus Wildekamp, Watters & Sainthouse, 2002
- Nothobranchius guentheri
- Nothobranchius hassoni Valdesalici & Wildekamp, 2004
- Nothobranchius hengstleri Valdesalici, 2007
- Nothobranchius hoermanni Nagy, Watters & Bellstedt, 2020
- Nothobranchius insularis Costa, 2017
- Nothobranchius interruptus Wildekamp & Berkenkamp, 1979
- Nothobranchius itigiensis Nagy, Watters & Bellstedt, 2020
- Nothobranchius ivanovae Valdesalici, 2012
- Nothobranchius janpapi Wildekamp, 1977
- Nothobranchius jubbi Wildekamp & Berkenkamp, 1979
- Nothobranchius kadleci Reichard, 2010
- Nothobranchius kafuensis Wildekamp & Rosenstock, 1989
- Nothobranchius kardashevi Valdesalici, 2012
- Nothobranchius kilomberoensis Wildekamp, Watters & Sainthouse, 2002
- Nothobranchius kirki Jubb, 1969
- Nothobranchius korthausae Meinken, 1973
- Nothobranchius krammeri Valdesalici & Hengstler, 2008
- Nothobranchius krysanovi Shidlovskiy, Watters & Wildekamp, 2010
- Nothobranchius kwalensis W. J. E. M. Costa, 2019
- Nothobranchius lourensi Wildekamp, 1977
- Nothobranchius lucius Wildekamp, Shidlovskiy & Watters, 2009
- Nothobranchius luekei Seegers, 1984
- Nothobranchius makondorum Wildekamp, Shidlovskiy & Watters, 2009
- Nothobranchius malaissei Wildekamp, 1978
- Nothobranchius matanduensis Watters, Nagy & Bellstedt, 2020
- Nothobranchius melanospilus
- Nothobranchius microlepis
- Nothobranchius milvertzi Nagy, 2014
- Nothobranchius mkuziensis
- Nothobranchius moameensis Nagy, Watters & Bellstedt, 2020
- Nothobranchius neumanni
- Nothobranchius niassa Valdesalici, Bills, Dorn, Reichwald & Cellerino, 2012
- Nothobranchius nikiforovi Nagy, Watters & Raspopova, 2021
- Nothobranchius nubaensis Valdesalici, Bellemans, Kardashev & Golubtsov, 2009
- Nothobranchius occultus Valdesalici, 2014
- Nothobranchius ocellatus
- Nothobranchius oestergaardi Valdesalici & Amato, 2011
- Nothobranchius orthonotus
- Nothobranchius ottoschmidti Watters, Nagy & Bellstedt, 2019
- Nothobranchius palmqvisti
- Nothobranchius patrizii
- Nothobranchius pienaari Shidlovskiy, Watters & Wildekamp, 2010
- Nothobranchius polli Wildekamp, 1978
- Nothobranchius prognathus Costa, 2019
- Nothobranchius rachovii Ahl, 1926
- Nothobranchius robustus Ahl, 1935
- Nothobranchius rosenstocki Valdesalici & Wildekamp, 2005
- Nothobranchius rubripinnis Seegers, 1986
- Nothobranchius rubroreticulatus Blache & Miton, 1960
- Nothobranchius rungwaensis Watters, Nagy & Bellstedt, 2019
- Nothobranchius ruudwildekampi Costa, 2009
- Nothobranchius sagittae Wildekamp, Watters & Shidlovskiy, 2014
- Nothobranchius sainthousei Nagy, Cotterill & Bellstedt, 2016
- Nothobranchius seegersi Valdesalici & Kardashev, 2011
- Nothobranchius serengetiensis Wildekamp, Watters & Shidlovskiy, 2014
- Nothobranchius skeltoni Watters, Nagy & Bellstedt, 2019
- Nothobranchius sonjae Watters, Nagy & Bellstedt, 2019
- Nothobranchius steinforti Wildekamp, 1977
- Nothobranchius streltsovi Valdesalici, 2016
- Nothobranchius sylvaticus Nagy, Bellstedt & Luke, 2025
- Nothobranchius symoensi Wildekamp, 1978
- Nothobranchius taeniopygus Hilgendorf, 1891
- Nothobranchius taiti Nagy, 2019
- Nothobranchius torgashevi Valdesalici, 2015
- Nothobranchius ugandensis Wildekamp, 1994
- Nothobranchius usanguensis Wildekamp, Watters & Shidlovskiy, 2014
- Nothobranchius venustus Nagy, Watters & Bellstedt, 2020
- Nothobranchius virgatus Chambers, 1984
- Nothobranchius vosseleri Ahl, 1924
- Nothobranchius wattersi Ng'oma, Valdesalici, Reichwald & Cellerino, 2013
- Nothobranchius willerti Wildekamp, 1992