Belongs within: Atherinomorpha.
Contains: Cyprinodontidae, Fundulidae, Poeciliidae.
The Cyprinodontiformes, killifishes and related forms, are a cosmopolitan group of small fishes usually found in estuarine or marine environments (Bond 1996). Members include the four-eyed fishes of the Anablepidae, in which the pupil is divided between an upper and a lower section to enable simultaneous vision above and below the water line. The Aplocheilidae of tropical Asia and Madagascar have the pelvic fin bases inserted close together and a black blotch is present on the dorsal fin of females.
Characters (from Bond 1996): Soft-rayed physoclists with abdominal pelvic fins. Single dorsal fin set behind middle of body. Caudal fin with varying number of rays, never forked. Orbitosphenoid, mesocoracoid, and basisphenoid absent; maxillaries excluded from border of mouth by premaxillaries. Lateral line canal system incomplete or not well formed on head and body.
Cyprinodontiformes [Microcyprini]
|--Aplocheilidae [Aplocheilinae, Aplocheiloidei]B-RB13
| |--FundulopanchaxB96
| |--AphiosemionB96
| |--EpiplatysB96
| |--Pachypanchax playfairiiB96, ND13
| `--AplocheilusL91
| |--A. latipesL91
| `--A. panchaxCS77
`--CyprinodontoideiB-RB13
| i. s.: ProfundulusB96 [ProfundulidaeB-RB13]
| `--P. hildebrandiB96
| ValenciaB96 [ValenciidaeB-RB13]
| `--V. hispanicaB96
| AnablepidaeB-RB13
| |--Jenynsia [Jenynsiidae]B96
| | `--J. multidentata (Jenyns 1842)MGV06
| `--AnablepsLD09
| |--A. anableps (Linnaeus 1758)LD09 [incl. A. tetrophthalmus Günther 1866F16]
| `--A. microleps Müller & Troschel 1844PC01
| GoodeidaeB-RB13
| | i. s.: Tapatia occidentalis Alvarez & Arriola 1972P93
| |--GoodeinaeB96
| `--EmpetrichthyinaeB96
| |--CrenichthysB96
| `--EmpetrichthysB96
| |--E. erdisiG88
| |--E. latosUSDI77
| | |--E. l. latosD81
| | |--E. l. concavusD81
| | `--E. l. pahrumpD81
| `--E. merriamiD81
| NothobranchiusB96 [NothobranchiidaeB-RB13]
| `--N. rachowiB96
| RivulidaeB-RB13
| |--PterolebiasB96
| |--CynolebiasB96
| `--RivulusR88
| |--R. cylindraceusR88
| |--R. garciaiR88
| |--R. harti [=Haplochilus harti; incl. R. micropus Günther 1866]F16
| |--R. heyeiR88
| |--R. insulaepinorumR88
| |--R. isthmensisF15
| |--R. marmoratusR86
| `--R. roloffiR88
|--CyprinodontidaeND13
`--+--FundulidaeND13
`--PoeciliidaeND13
*Type species of generic name indicated
References
[B-RB13] Betancur-R., R., R. E. Broughton, E. O. Wiley, K. Carpenter, A. López, C. Li, N. I. Holcroft, D. Arcila, M. Sanciangco, J. C. Cureton, II, F. Zhang, T. Buser, M. A. Campbell, J. A. Ballesteros, A. Roa-Varon, S. Willis, W. C. Borden, T. Rowley, P. C. Reneau, D. J. Hough, G. Lu, T. Grande, G. Arratia & G. Ortí. 2013. The tree of life and a new classification of bony fishes. PLoS Currents Tree of Life April 18 2013. doi: 10.1371/currents.tol.53ba26640df0ccaee75bb165c8c26288.
[B96] Bond, C. E. 1996. Biology of Fishes 2nd ed. Saunders College Publishing: Fort Worth.
[CS77] Cramp, S., & K. E. L. Simmons (eds) 1977. Handbook of the Birds of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa: The Birds of the Western Palaearctic vol. 1. Ostrich to Ducks. Oxford University Press: Oxford.
[D81] Day, D. 1981. The Doomsday Book of Animals: A unique natural history of three hundred vanished species. Ebury Press: London.
[F15] Fowler, H. W. 1915. Cold-blooded vertebrates from Florida, the West Indies, Costa Rica, and eastern Brazil. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 67 (2): 244–269.
[F16] Fowler, H. W. 1916. The fishes of Trinidad, Grenada, and St. Lucia, British West Indies. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 67 (3): 520–548.
[G88] Gray, J. 1988. Evolution of the freshwater ecosystem: the fossil record. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 62: 1–214.
[LD09] Li, B., A. Dettaï, C. Cruaud, A. Couloux, M. Desoutter-Meniger & G. Lecointre. 2009. RNF213, a new nuclear marker for acanthomorph phylogeny. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 50: 345–363.
[L91] Liehne, P. F. S. 1991. An Atlas of the Mosquitoes of Western Australia. Health Department of Western Australia.
[MGV06] Mai, A. C. G., A. M. Garcia & J. P. Vieira. 2006. Ecologia alimentar do barrigudinho Jenynsia multidentata (Jenyns, 1842) (Pisces: Cyprinodontiformes) no estuário da Laguna dos Patos, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil. Comunicações do Museo de Ciências e Tecnologia da PUCRS, Serie Zoologia 19 (1): 3–18.
[ND13] Near, T. J., A. Dornburg, R. I. Eytan, B. P. Keck, W. L. Smith, K. L. Kuhn, J. A. Moore, S. A. Price, F. T. Burbrink, M. Friedman & P. C. Wainwright. 2013. Phylogeny and tempo of diversification in the superradiation of spiny-rayed fishes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 110 (31): 12738–12743.
[P93] Patterson, C. 1993. Osteichthyes: Teleostei. In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Fossil Record 2 pp. 621–656. Chapman & Hall: London.
[PC01] Pichelin, S., & T. H. Cribb. 2001. The status of the Diplosentidae (Acanthocephala: Palaeacanthocephala) and a new family of acanthocephalans from Australian wrasses (Pisces: Labridae). Folia Parasitologica 48: 289–303.
[R88] Rauchenberger, M. 1988. Historical biogeography of poeciliid fishes in the Caribbean. Systematic Zoology 37 (4): 356–365.
[R86] Rivas, L. R. 1986. Comments on Briggs (1984): freshwater fishes and biogeography of Central America and the Antilles. Systematic Zoology 35 (4): 633–639.
[USDI77] United States Department of the Interior. 1977. Endangered and threatened wildlife and plants—republication of list of species. Federal Register 42: 36420–36431.