Skip to content
EntityQ310140· pop 15· linked from 21 articles

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. 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.

Species

GENUS

  1. KingdomAnimalia
  2. PhylumChordata
  3. ClassTeleostei
  4. OrderCypriniformes
  5. FamilyCyprinidae
Habitatbrackish, freshwater
Observations recorded751

via GBIF

Museum specimens

Specimen records
8
Family
Cyprinidae
Collections
UMMZ, NHMUK

Wikidata facts

Instance of
taxon
Parent taxon
Cyprinidae
Named after
Richard Dawkins
Image
Puntius filamentosus Thomas.jpg
Show 4 more facts
taxon rank
genus
taxon name
Dawkinsia
Commons category
Dawkinsia
topic's main category
Category:Dawkinsia
Sources (1)

via Wikidata · CC0

~3 min read

Encyclopedic overview

4 sections
Contents
  • Etymology
  • Description
  • Species
  • References

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. 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.

== 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". Dawkins describes this as "a great honour".

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Dawkinsia” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.