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Limia
EntityQ134424· pop 17· linked from 26 articles

Limia is a genus of livebearing fishes belonging to the Cyprinodontiform family Poeciliidae. It comprises 22 described species found in fresh, brackish, saltwater, and hypersaline habitats of the Greater Antilles islands in the Caribbean Sea. A vast majority are endemic to Hispaniola. There has been a long-running debate on whether Limia should be considered a subgenus of Poecilia rather than a full genus. Most Limia species are detrivores and herbivores. Due to their small size and coloring, they are sometimes kept in home aquaria.

Species

Genus

  1. PhylumChordata
  2. ClassTeleostei
  3. OrderCyprinodontiformes
  4. FamilyPoeciliidae
Habitatbrackish, freshwater

via

Museum specimens

Specimen records
67
Family
Poeciliidae
Collections
UMMZ, MVZ, MO, AUM, CAS, ANSP
Recorded in
Dominican Republic, Peru, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Haiti, Brazil

~8 min read

Encyclopedic overview

9 sections
Contents
  • Taxonomy
  • Evolution and phylogeny
  • Species
  • ''Odontolimia''
  • ''Limia''
  • Ecology
  • Traits
  • Fishkeeping
  • References

Limia is a genus of livebearing fishes belonging to the Cyprinodontiform family Poeciliidae. It comprises 22 described species found in fresh, brackish, saltwater, and hypersaline habitats of the Greater Antilles islands in the Caribbean Sea. A vast majority are endemic to Hispaniola. There has been a long-running debate on whether Limia should be considered a subgenus of Poecilia rather than a full genus. Most Limia species are detrivores and herbivores. Due to their small size and coloring, they are sometimes kept in home aquaria.

== Taxonomy == The genus Limia belongs to Poecilidae, the most abundant and species-rich family of freshwater fish on the Greater Antilles. The generic name Limia, derived from Latin, refers to the muddy habitat of the type species, L. vittata. The genus was established in 1854 by Poey. Rosen and Bailey made it a subgenus of the genus Poecilia in their major reclassification of the poeciliid genera in 1963. Rivas, among others, continued to recognize Limia as a distinct genus and resurrected it in 1978, describing eight new species in 1980.

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

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