CURRENT AND USED NAMES OF KILLIES

This long-to-show (be patient !) list of all Killifish taxa (historically used names vs. present names) is aimed :

• to help search engines to guide Internet surfers to the appropriate website, including Killi-Data online, and
• to instantly give aquarists the correspondence between used names and the present name in Killi-Data.

Killifish, the herein aggregated common name for all, oviparous and viviparous cyprinodontiformes fishes, are currently classified into 2 suborders (Aplocheiloidei, i.e., rivulins with hereafter first-listed 3 families, and Cyprinodontoidei, killifish in a strict sense, mostly, but also, pupfishes, toothcarps, lampeyes and livebearers, including splitfins) and in 14 families (full details HERE, constantly updated):
- Aplocheilidae, oviparous, only from India and Madagascar;
- Nothobranchiidae, oviparous, from Africa except Madagascar with 2 subfamilies: Nothobranchiinae and Epiplatinae;
- Rivulidae, oviparous, from Central and South America with 3 subfamilies: Rivulinae, Cynolebiinae and Kryptolebiatinae;
- Anablepsidae, with 3 subfamilies: Anablepsinae, viviparous, the monotypic Oxyzygonectinae, oviparous, and Jenynsiinae, viviparous, from Central and South America;
- Aphaniidae, oviparous, monotypic, from Europe, the Middle East, up to Pakistan and northwestern coastal India;
- Cyprinodontidae, oviparous, with 2 subfamilies: Cubanichthyinae (with 2 tribes, Cubanichthyini, Yssolebiini) and Cyprinodontinae (with 2 tribes, Cyprinodontini and Orestiadini), from North, Central and South America;
- Fluviphylacidae, oviparous, monotypic, from South America.
- Fundulidae, oviparous, from North and Central America;
- Goodeidae, with 2 subfamilies: Empetrichthyinae, oviparous and Goodeinae, viviparous, from North and Central America;
- Pantanodontidae, oviparous, previously monotypic, today with 4 extant genera, from Eastern Africa including Madagascar;
- Poeciliidae, with 3 subfamilies, from North, Central and South America: Poeciliinae viviparous, Tomeurinae, oviparous, monotypic, Xenodexiinae, viviparous, monotypic);
- Procatopodidae, oviparous, from Africa (in 2 subfamilies, Aplocheilichthyinae, monotypic, and Procatopodinae with 2 tribes, Procatopodini and Micropanchini);
- Profundulidae, oviparous, bitypic, from Central America;
- Valenciidae, oviparous, monotypic, from Europe;
These 14 families are also accepted in active international databases on all fishes to ensure coherence and universality, even if the major move from 7 to 14 families is very recent (2018) and is more reflecting the splitting trends in present systematics than a parsimonious analysis (a solid publication by Piller et al. in 2022 even goes to 16 families, likewise another solid and global phylogeny by Morales et al., 2024). The contents of lower levels depend more on authors : a consensus and conservative view is selected herein, fully in line with ICZN recommendations. Future general trend is probably moving to even more divisions at all family-group names levels, even if the pyramid may balance back to fewer families and consequently more lower levels in an un-foreseeable future (notably the first, but preliminary, analysis, by Teimori & Motamedi, in 2019, based on full mitogenome, discloses that family Aphaniidae is probably ambiguous and recent results tend to amalgamate Valenciidae into Aphaniidae).

All details for each name are given in the knowledgebase for which free pre-registration is required by simple e-mail :
To register, click on the link FREE REGISTRATION and fill up the form. If you would like, first, to look at an example of the contents of the database, click on SAMPLE.

There are also 4 major lists (the first 3 being freely available in this public part, the last only through dedicated aquarists' associations) in the website that are valuable for aquarists and scientists:

1. List of all names with a snapshot of basic information for each, the encyclopedia of killifish, and, since 2024, this is directly accessible for each name from here by clicking on a given name in first (left) column.
2. List of valid generic names and their conservation status, according to their availability in nature for genera or subgenera (CONSERVATION).
   The information is in line with international organisations like CITES and I.U.C.N. Red List (note : in the members' section, it is even more updated and it is dealing with the conservation status of all Killifish, not only those endangered or extinct).
3. List of all NEW taxa with bibliographic reference, since the first Killi-Data book in 1994, and for viviparous taxa, only since 2019.
4. Besides, the List of all valid Killifish species with the known aquarium populations is available with the yearly booklet POCKET KILLI-DATA, either for oviparous taxa or for viviparous taxa
   

Beware, the automatic translator reverses scientific names : please use the English version to save this list.

To quickly find a name, use your browser by typing at the same time "Ctrl" and "F".

 " ‡ " : this sign denotes names that MUST NOT be used anymore (ICZN invalid or rejected or unavailable)
Please, read the COPYRIGHTS conditions. This computerized table cannot deal with debated cases or unstable situations (a name is either correct or incorrect, computerwise). Like everywhere in Killi-Data, the latest scientific evidence leads the decision of the status of a specific name. For example, debated cases, at species level, such as bualanum/elberti, formosus/Adamans/Fenerbahce, caudomarginatus/ocellatus/hermaphroditus, heloplites/antenori, or, at species level, such as the split or not into several genera of Rivulus and the split or not into several genera of Simpsonichthys (etc.) are the consequence of the latest scientific evidence (sometimes old), and not of opinions (even recent), but that evidence may change any time with a new publication.