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Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Megaclassis: Osteichthyes
Superclassis/Classis: Actinopterygii
Classis/Subclassis: Actinopteri
Subclassis/Infraclassis: Neopterygii
Infraclassis: Teleostei
Megacohors: Osteoglossocephalai
Supercohors: Clupeocephala
Cohors: Otomorpha
Subcohors: Ostariophysi
Sectio: Otophysa
Ordo: Gymnotiformes

Familia: Apteronotidae
Genus: Apteronotus

Species: A. acidops – A. albifrons – A. anu – A. apurensis – A. baniwa – A. bonapartii – A. brasiliensis – A. camposdapazi – A. caudimaculosus – A. cuchillejo – A. cuchillo – A. ellisi – A. eshmeyeri – A. ferrarisi – A. galvisi – A. jurubidae – A. leptorhynchus – A. lindalvae – A. macrolepis – A. macrostomus – A. magdelenensis – A. magoi – A. marauna – A. mariae – A. milesi – A. pemon – A. rostratus – A. spurrellii
Name

Apteronotus Lacepède, 1800
Synonyms

Sternarchus Bloch & Schneider, 1801

References

Mago Leccia, Francisco. 1970. “Lista de los peces de Venezuela incluyendo un estudio preliminar de la ictiogeografía del país”. Ministerio de Agricultura y Cría. Caracas, Venezuela. p. 285.
Machado Allison, Antonio. 1987. “Los peces de los ríos Caris y Pao estado Anzoátegui. Clave Ilustrada para su identificación”. Ediciones Corpoven, S.A. Caracas. p. 68. ISBN 980-259-114-9
Román, Benigno. 1992. “Peces ornamentales de Venezuela”. Fundación La Salle de Ciencias Naturales. Caracas. p. 223. ISBN 84-604-4401-5
Machado Allison, Antonio. 1993. “Los peces de los llanos de Venezuela: un ensayo sobre su historia natural”. Universidad Central de Venezuela. Caracas. p. 146. ISBN 980-00-0120-4
Royero, Ramiro. 1993. “Peces ornamentales de Venezuela”. Cuadernos Lagoven. Lagoven S.A. Caracas. p. 106. ISBN 980-259-562-4
Mago Leccia, Francisco. 1994. “Electric Fishes of the continental waters of América”. Biblioteca de la Academia de Ciencias Físicas, Matemáticas y Naturales. XXIX: 1–229.
Albert, J.S. 2003. Apteronotidae (Ghost knifefishes). In: A: R.E. Reis, S.O. Kullander i C.J. Ferraris, Jr. (eds.). “Checklist of the Freshwater Fishes of South and Central America”. Porto Alegre: EDIPUCRS, el Brasil. p. 497–502.

Links

Apteronotus – Taxon details on Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS).

Vernacular names
English: Ghost knifefishes
español: Cuchillos

Apteronotus is a genus of weakly electric knifefish in the family Apteronotidae, distinguished by the presence of a tiny tail fin. This genus is restricted to tropical and subtropical South America (Amazon, Orinoco, Río de la Plata and Magdalena basins, as well as rivers in western Colombia and the Guianas) and Panama where found in a wide range of freshwater habitats.[1][2] They feed on small animals.[1]

Depending on the exact species, they reach a total length of up to about 18–50 cm (7–20 in). Although it has been claimed that A. magdalenensis is up to 130 cm (4.3 ft) long, this is not supported by recent studies and likely the result of confusion with Sternopygus aequilabiatus.[1][3] Members of Apteronotus fall into three species groups based on their morphology: the A. albifrons group have a rounded snout and are black or dark brown with a contrasting light stripe on the top of the head, and bands on the tail and at its base, the A. leptorhynchus group have an elongate, slender snout (especially in males) and are brown with a light stripe along the head and back, and a band on the tail, and the A. bonapartii group have an elongate (males) or rounded (females) snout and are brown or gray (capable of some color change) with a light band on the tail.[1] The last group is not closely related to the first two and will likely need to be moved to another genus.[2][4] A genetic study published in 2019 found that the genus is strongly polyphyletic with several groups that are quite distantly related.[5]
Species

There are currently 27 recognized species in this genus:[6][7][8]

Apteronotus acidops Triques, 2011[9]
Apteronotus albifrons (Linnaeus, 1766) (Black ghost knifefish)
Apteronotus anu de Santana & Vari, 2013[8]
Apteronotus apurensis Fernández-Yépez, 1968
Apteronotus baniwa de Santana & Vari, 2013[8]
Apteronotus bonapartii (Castelnau, 1855)
Apteronotus brasiliensis (J. T. Reinhardt, 1852)
Apteronotus camposdapazi de Santana & Lehmann-A., 2006
Apteronotus caudimaculosus de Santana, 2003
Apteronotus cuchillejo (L. P. Schultz, 1949)
Apteronotus cuchillo L. P. Schultz, 1949
Apteronotus ellisi (Alonso de Arámburu, 1957)
Apteronotus eschmeyeri de Santana, Maldenado-Ocampo, Severi & G. N. Mendes, 2004
Apteronotus ferrarisi de Santana & Vari, 2013[8]
Apteronotus galvisi de Santana, Maldenado-Ocampo & Crampton, 2007
Apteronotus jurubidae (Fowler, 1944)
Apteronotus leptorhynchus (M. M. Ellis, 1912) (Brown ghost knifefish)
Apteronotus lindalvae de Santana & Cox Fernandes, 2012[7]
Apteronotus macrolepis (Steindachner, 1881)
Apteronotus macrostomus (Fowler, 1943)
Apteronotus magdalenensis (Miles, 1945)
Apteronotus magoi de Santana, Castillo G. & Taphorn, 2006
Apteronotus mariae (C. H. Eigenmann & Fisher, 1914)
Apteronotus milesi de Santana & Maldenado-Ocampo, 2005
Apteronotus pemon de Santana & Vari, 2013[8]
Apteronotus rostratus (Meek & Hildebrand, 1913)
Apteronotus spurrellii (Regan, 1914)

References

van der Sleen, P.; J.S. Albert, eds. (2017). Field Guide to the Fishes of the Amazon, Orinoco, and Guianas. Princeton University Press. pp. 322–326. ISBN 978-0691170749.
Ferraris Jr, C.J.; C.D. de Santana; R.P. Vari (2017). "Checklist of Gymnotiformes (Osteichthyes: Ostariophysi) and catalogue of primary types". Neotrop. Ichthyol. 15 (1). doi:10.1590/1982-0224-20160067.
Maldonado-Ocampo, J.A.; Santana, C.D. de; W.G.R. Crampton (2011). "On Apteronotus magdalenensis (Miles, 1945) (Gymnotiformes: Apteronotidae): a poorly known species endemic to the río Magdalena basin, Colombia". Neotrop. Ichthyol. 9 (3): 505–514. doi:10.1590/S1679-62252011000300005.
Hilton, E.J.; C.C. Fernandes (2017). "Identity of "Apteronotus" bonapartii (Castelnau, 1855), a sexually dimorphic South American knifefish from the Amazon, with notes on its cranial osteology and on the taxonomic status of "Apteronotus" apurensis Fernández-Yépez, 1968 (Gymnotiformes, Apteronotidae)". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 165: 91–103. doi:10.1635/053.165.0109.
Bernt, M.J.; V.A. Tagliacollo; J.S. Albert (2019). "Molecular Phylogeny of the Ghost Knifefishes (Gymnotiformes: Apteronotidae)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 135: 297–307. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2019.02.019.
Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2013). Species of Apteronotus in FishBase. April 2013 version.
de Santana, C.D. & Cox Fernandes, C. (2012): A New Species of Sexually Dimorphic Electric Knifefish from the Amazon Basin, Brazil (Gymnotiformes: Apteronotidae). Copeia, 2012 (2): 283-292.
de Santana, C.D. & Vari, R.P. (2013): Brown ghost electric fishes of the Apteronotus leptorhynchus species-group (Ostariophysi, Gymnotiformes); monophyly, major clades, and revision. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 168 (3): 564–596.
Triques, M.L. (2011): Apteronotus acidops, new species of long snouted electric fish (Teleostei: Gymnotiformes: Apteronotidae) from the upper rio Paraná basin in Brazil, with a key to the apteronotid species from the area. Vertebrate Zoology, 61 (3): 299–306.

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