Dawkinsia

{{Short description|Genus of fishes}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = {{multiple image | image1 = Dawkinsia filamentosa -Marcus Knight.tif | caption1 = ''Dawkinsia filamentosa'' | image2 = Aquarium tropical de Pierrefitte-Nestalas 03082018 Barbus crayon 1.jpg | caption2 = ''Dawkinsia denisonii'' | image3 = Dawkinsia apsara (cropped).jpg | caption3 = ''Dawkinsia apsara'' | image4 = D assimilis - Rahul Gautam.jpg | caption4 = ''Dawkinsia assimilis'' | perrow = 2/2 | total_width = 400 | border = infobox }} | taxon = Dawkinsia | authority = Pethiyagoda, Meegaskumbura & Maduwage, 2012 | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = | type_species = ''Leuciscus filamentosus'' | type_species_authority = Valenciennes, 1844 | synonyms = ''Sahyadria'' Raghavan, Philip, Ali & Dahanukar, 2013 }}

'''''Dawkinsia''''' is a genus of cyprinid fishes from freshwater in South India and Sri Lanka. It was split off (i.e., reclassified) from genus ''Puntius'' in 2012.<ref name=PethiyagodaEtAl>{{cite journal |author=Rohan Pethiyagoda, R. |author2=Meegaskumbura, M. |author3=Maduwage, K. |name-list-style=amp |year=2012 |url=http://www.pfeil-verlag.de/04biol/pdf/ief23_1_12.pdf |title=A synopsis of the South Asian fishes referred to ''Puntius'' (Pisces: Cyprinidae) |journal=Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=69–95 |archive-date=2012-11-19 |access-date=2012-07-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121119143800/http://www.pfeil-verlag.de/04biol/pdf/ief23_1_12.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> The genus is endemic to South Asia; most species are found in the Western Ghats, with one inhabiting the Knuckles Hills of Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan species colonized the island by crossing the Palk Isthmus (now the Palk Strait) during the Pliocene-Late Pleistocene.<ref name="Divers"/>

== Etymology == ''Dawkinsia'' is named after the evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in recognition of his "contribution to the public understanding of science, particularly, of evolutionary science".<ref name = ETYFish>{{cite web | url = https://etyfish.org/smiliogastrinae/ | title = Family CYPRINIDAE: Subfamily SMILIOGASTRINAE Bleeker 1863 (Small Barbs) | access-date= 13 January 2024 | author1 = Christopher Scharpf | author2 = Kenneth J. Lazara | name-list-style = amp | work = The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database | date = 19 April 2023 | publisher = Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara}}</ref><ref name=PethiyagodaEtAl/>{{rp|p.80}} Dawkins describes this as "a great honour".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18889495 |title=Ten species named after famous people |author=Bethan Jinkinson |date=19 July 2012 |work=BBC News |publisher= |access-date=19 July 2012}}</ref>

The synonym ''Sahyadria'' alludes to the local name of the Western Ghats, ''Sahayadri'', where the two species of that group are found.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Raghavan |first1=Rajeev |last2=Philip |first2=Siby |last3=Ali |first3=Anvar |last4=Dahanukar |first4=Neelesh |title=Sahyadria, a new genus of barbs (Teleostei: Cyprinidae) from Western Ghats of India |journal=Journal of Threatened Taxa |date=November 2013 |volume=5 |issue=15 |pages=4932–4938 |doi=10.11609/JoTT.o3673.4932-8|doi-access=free }}</ref>

==Description== Adults typically measure {{cvt|8|-|12|cm}} SL. They do not have rostral barbels but may have maxillary barbels. Juveniles have a colour pattern consisting of three black bars on body; this persists in the adults of some species. Adults have a black, horizontally elongate blotch on the caudal peduncle. The last unbranched fin-ray of the dorsal fin is smooth and the lateral line is complete, with 18 to 22 scales.<ref name=PethiyagodaEtAl/>{{rp|p.80}}

Three species groups can be distinguished: Filamentosa, Sahyadria, and Assimilis, though this is mostly based on molecular analyses; the Filamentosa and Assimilis group have plesiomorphies, shared features that the Sahyadria group do not possess, such as the extensions of the dorsal fin rays past the membrane. All three groups do, however, share the juvenile barred patterning.<ref name="Divers"/>

==Species== These are the currently recognized species in this genus:<ref name = "Cof genus">{{Cof genus|genus=Dawkinsia|access-date=7 January 2025}}</ref> * ''Dawkinsia apsara'' (Katwate, Marcus Knight, Anoop, Raghavan & Dahanukar, 2020) (mascara barb) * ''Dawkinsia arulius'' (Jerdon, 1849) (Arulius barb) * ''Dawkinsia assimilis'' (Jerdon, 1849) * ''Dawkinsia austellus'' Katwate, Marcus Knight, Anoop, Raghavan & Dahanukar, 2020 * ''Dawkinsia chalakkudiensis'' (Menon, Rema Devi & Thobias, 1999) * ''Dawkinsia crassa'' Katwate, Marcus Knight, Anoop, Raghavan & Dahanukar, 2020 (Rounded filament barb) * ''Dawkinsia denisonii'' (F. Day, 1865) (Denison barb; red line torpedo barb) * ''Dawkinsia exclamatio'' (Pethiyagoda & Kottelat, 2005) * ''Dawkinsia filamentosa'' (Valenciennes, 1844) (Blackspot/Filament barb) * ''Dawkinsia lepida'' (Day, 1868) * ''Dawkinsia rohani'' (Rema Devi, Indra & Knight, 2010) * ''Dawkinsia rubrotincta'' (Jerdon, 1849) * ''Dawkinsia singhala'' (Duncker, 1912) * ''Dawkinsia srilankensis'' (Senanayake, 1985) (Blotched filamented barb) * ''Dawkinsia tambraparniei'' (Silas, 1954) * ''Dawkinsia uttara'' Katwate, Apte & Raghavan, 2020

Phylogenetic analyses continually suggested that ''Dawkinsia'' was paraphyletic if ''Sahyadria'' were considered a distinct genus,<ref>Ren, Q., Yang, L., Chang, C., & Mayden, R. L. (2020). Molecular phylogeny and divergence of major clades in the Puntius complex (Teleostei: Cypriniformes). Zoologica Scripta, 49(6), 697–709. https://doi.org/10.1111/zsc.12442</ref> so the two species of ''Sahyadria'', ''Sahyadria denisonii'' and ''S. chalakkudiensis'', were lumped into ''Dawkinsia''. The following cladogram is based on a Bayesian inference of the concatenated mitochondrial dataset of the cyt b + cox1 (1719 bp) gene:<ref name="Divers">{{cite journal |last1=Sudasinghe |first1=Hiranya |last2=Raghavan |first2=Rajeev |last3=Dahanukar |first3=Neelesh |last4=Pethiyagoda |first4=Rohan |last5=Rüber |first5=Lukas |last6=Meegaskumbura |first6=Madhava |title=Diversification and biogeography of Dawkinsia (Teleostei: Cyprinidae) in the Western Ghats-Sri Lanka biodiversity hotspot |journal=Organisms Diversity & Evolution |date=29 September 2021 |volume=21 |issue=4 |pages=795–820 |doi=10.1007/s13127-021-00515-x |bibcode=2021ODivE..21..795S |url=http://publication.plazi.org/id/84690847FFAEFFDAFFA5C15DFFAA1802 }}</ref> {{clade |1={{clade |1=''Rohtee ogilbii'' |2=''Osteobrama belangeri'' }} |label2='''''Dawkinsia''''' |2={{clade |label1=Assimilis group |1={{clade |1={{clade |1=''Dawkinsia lepida'' |2={{clade |1=''Dawkinsia apsara'' |2=''Dawkinsia assimilis'' }} }} |2=''Dawkinsia austellus'' }} |2={{clade |1="'''''Sahyadria'''''" |label2=Filamentosa group |2={{clade |1={{clade |1={{clade |1={{clade |1={{clade |label1=''Dawkinsia filamentosa'' |1={{clade hidden|expand-text=Show sample locales|mode=left |1={{clade |1={{clade |1={{clade |1=Sri Lanka |2=Kerala }} |2=Karnataka |3=Maharashtra |4=Goa }} |2=Tamil Nadu }} |2=Kerala }} }} |2=''Dawkinsia uttara'' }} |2={{clade |1=''Dawkinsia crassa'' |2={{clade |1=''Dawkinsia rohani'' |2=''Dawkinsia exclamatio'' }} }} }} |2={{clade |1=''Dawkinsia srilankensis'' |2=''Dawkinsia tambraparniei'' }} }} |2={{clade |1=''Dawkinsia arulius'' |2=''Dawkinsia rubrotincta'' }} }} }} }} }}

Mitogenome analysis confirms that ''D. denisonii'' and ''D. chalakkudiensis'' are sister species;<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sun |first1=Cheng-He |last2=Lu |first2=Chang-Hu |title=Comparative Analysis and Phylogenetic Study of Dawkinsia filamentosa and Pethia nigrofasciata Mitochondrial Genomes |journal= International Journal of Molecular Sciences|date=5 March 2024 |volume=25 |issue=5 |page=3004 |doi=10.3390/ijms25053004 |doi-access=free |pmid=38474250 |pmc=10931541 }}</ref> they comprise the Sahyadria group.

==References== {{Reflist|2}}

Category:Dawkinsia Category:Smiliogastrinae Category:Freshwater fish of Asia Category:Taxa named by Rohan Pethiyagoda Category:Taxa named by Madhava Meegaskumbura Category:Taxa named by Kalana Maduwage