Moenkhausia Eigenmann

Vinicius A. Bertaco & Paulo H. F. Lucinda, 2006, Moenkhausia pankilopteryx, new species from rio Tocantins drainage, Brazil (Ostariophysi: Characiformes, Characidae)., Zootaxa 1120, pp. 57-68 : 57-58

[[ Moenkhausia Eigenmann ]]

The genus Moenkhausia Eigenmann is a speciose characid genus, including at least 60 valid nominal species widely distributed throughout the Amazonas, Orinoco, São Francisco, Parnaíba, Paraguay and Doce river drainages, as well as in small coastal drainages of Guianas (Lima et al., 2003). The systematics of Moenkhausia is quite complex, particularly since there is no evidence corroborating the monophyly of the genus (Weitzman & Malabarba, 1998). Moenkhausia was first revised by Eigenmann (1917), which still constitutes the only all-inclusive review of the genus. Most papers on the systematic literature on Moenkhausia subsequent to Eigenmann’s revisions either involve the description of new species or taxonomic reviews of species occurring in restricted geographic areas of South America.

Fourteen Moenkhausia species have been reported from the rio Tocantins drainage (Lowe-McConnell, 1991; Géry, 1992, Costa, 1994; Lucena & Lucena, 1999; Lima et al., 2003), although only three have their type localities within the drainage.