152 



Diagnosis (emended from Rafinesque 1820a, Berg 1949, Banarescu 1964, and Howes 

 1985) 



Small size, less than 100 mm in SL in most species; body elongate; no barbel; Eurasian 

 species bearing two rows of pharyngeal teeth, and silver peritoneum; North American spe- 

 cies bearing one row of pharyngeal teeth (except Phoxinus neogaeus with two rows) and 

 dark peritoneum; in young, side with one horizontal dark stripe; in adults, side with at 

 least one longitudinal dark stripe, or about 10 vertical dark bars (P. phoxinus); the lateral 

 stripe interrupted or not; supraorbital canal interrupted between nasal and frontal bones; 

 preoperculomandibular canal interrupted into mandibular and preopercular segments; preo- 

 percular canal ending at middle of the ascending arm of the preopercle; scales small; in 

 breeding males, breast scales deeply embedded and bearing a series of tubercles at their 

 apical margins; scales on caudal peduncle bearing three or more tubercles at apical mar- 

 gin; orbital septum low; pharyngeal pad of basioccipital bone bearing an anterior process; 

 nasal bone reduced, far from the anterior frontal canal opening; posttemporal fossa small; 

 supraoccipital crest small; supraoccipital anterior margin bearing one anteriorly directed 

 process; vertebrae about 40. 



Etymology 



Phoxinus is a Greek word for an unknown river fish (Pflieger 1975). meaning tapering 

 (Nelson & Paetz 1992). The name might refer to body shape of the species in the genus. 



Composition 



Nine species are included in the genus, i.e., P. brachyurus, issykkulensis, neogaeus, pho- 

 xinus, erythro gast er, eos, cumberlandensis, oreas. and tennesseensis. I am not certain at 

 the present whether "P. tchangi Chen" should be included in the genus because I did not 

 have opportunity to study the specimens of this species during this project. "P. sedelni- 

 kowi Berg, 1908" was listed as a species of Phoxinus by Howes (1985), though he did 

 not study specimens of this species. Whether P. sedelnikowi belongs to the genus is an 

 open question because I could not get specimens of the species, and published data about 

 this species are scant. 



Distribution 



Species of Phoxinus occur in North America and Eurasia (Figs. 95, 96). See below for the 

 distribution of each species in the genus. 



Classification of Phoxinus 



According to the phylogenetic hypothesis of Phoxinus proposed herein (Fig. 93) and the 

 phylogenetic listing convention proposed by Wiley (1979, 1981) and Wiley et al. (1991). 

 the classification of Phoxinus is arranged as follows: 



