Revised 5 Sept. 2023
PDF version (illustrated)
Sailfin Tetras
Subfamily CRENUCHINAE Günther 1870
Crenuchus Günther 1863 crena (L.), notch; nuchus, from nucha (Medieval Latin), nape of the neck, allusion not explained not evident, perhaps referring to slight indentation on nape of nuptial males, a character not mentioned by Günther (online claims that name is derived from krenoychos, the god of running waters, or means “guardian of the spring,” are offered without source or substantiation)
Crenuchus spilurus Günther 1863 spot-tailed, from spílos (Gr. σπίλος), mark or spot, and ourá (Gr. οὐρά), tail, referring to round black spot at end of caudal peduncle
Poecilocharax Eigenmann 1909 poecilo-, from poikílos (Gr. ποικίλος), varicolored, here referring to resemblance to some genera of Poeciliidae (Cyprinodontiformes); Charax, typical genus of the Characiformes, from chárax (Gr. χάραξ), a pointed stake of a palisade, referring to densely packed sharp teeth, now a common root-name formation in the order
Poecilocharax bovalii Eigenmann 1909 in honor of Edward and Edwin Bovalius, Essequibo Exploration Company, without whose help (providing boats and guides) Eigenmann’s trip to the Tumatumari and Kaieteur regions of Guyana “would have been practically impossible” [preferably spelled bovaliorum since name honors more than one person, but ICZN 32.5.1 forbids such a correction]
Poecilocharax callipterus Ohara, Pastana & Camelier 2022 pretty-winged, from kállos (Gr. κάλλος) beauty, and pterón (Gr. πτερόν), wing or fin, referring to vivid coloration of dorsal-fin of adult males
Poecilocharax rhizophilus Ohara, Pastana & Camelier 2022 root-loving, from rhíza (Gr. ῥίζα), root, and phílos (Gr. φίλος), friend or fond of, referring to its habitat, in between subaquatic roots of riparian vegetation
Poecilocharax weitzmani Géry 1965 in honor of American ichthyologist (and characoid expert) Stanley H. Weitzman (1927–2017), National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution (Washington, D.C.)
South American Darters
Subfamily CHARACIDIINAE Fowler 1932
Ammocryptocharax Weitzman & Kanazawa 1976 Ammocrypta, a genus of North American darters (Perciformes: Percidae), referring to superficial resemblance between the genera; Charax, typical genus of the Characiformes, from chárax (Gr. χάραξ), a pointed stake of a palisade, referring to densely packed sharp teeth, now a common root-name formation in the order
Ammocryptocharax elegans Weitzman & Kanazawa 1976 Latin for elegant, allusion not explained; according to senior author (pers. comm.), referring to both sexes being elegant fishes
Ammocryptocharax lateralis (Eigenmann 1909) Latin for of the side, presumably referring to broad band, bordered by a light streak above, from tip of snout to base of middle caudal-fin rays
Ammocryptocharax minutus Buckup 1993 Latin for small, the smallest member of the genus (up to 19.8 mm SL)
Ammocryptocharax vintonae (Eigenmann 1909) in honor of Mrs. C. Vinton, possibly Josephine Caroline Carstarphen, wife of mining engineer Lindley Vinton, who lived in British Guiana (type locality), “one of the few ladies who have visited the habitat of this species” [originally spelled vintoni but gender-correct spelling is in prevailing usage]
Characidium Reinhardt 1867 diminutive of Charax, i.e., a small characoid, perhaps reflecting Reinhardt’s description of C. fasciatum as a “curious little fish” (translation)
Characidium alipioi Travassos 1955 in honor of Brazilian ichthyologist-herpetologist Alípio de Miranda Ribeiro (1874–1939), founder of the fish collection at Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Characidium amaila Lujan, Agudelo-Zamora, Taphorn, Booth & López-Fernández 2013 named for Amaila Falls (downstream of type locality), “a striking feature of the Guiana Shield escarpment in western Guyana that will have altered flow following completion of a dam that is now being planned”
Characidium bahiense Almeida 1971 –ense, Latin suffix denoting place: Bahia State, Brazil, where it is endemic
Characidium barbosai Flausino, Lima, Machado & Melo 2020 in honor of Gerson Natalício Barbosa, a District Attorney from Mato Grosso, Brazil, for his commitment to enforcing environmental laws, and for being one of the conceivers of the project “Água para o Futuro,” which is surveying, protecting and restoring springs in the urban area of Cuiabá, the capital of Mato Grosso
Characidium bimaculatum Fowler 1941 bi-, from bis (L.), twice; maculatum (L.), spotted, referring to broad black subbasal blotch or band on dorsal fin, and large oval black blotch embracing dark lateral band at caudal peduncle and caudal-fin base
Characidium boaevistae Steindachner 1915 of Boa Vista, capital of Brazilian state of Roraima, on western bank of Rio Branco, type locality [often spelled boavistae, without the first e]
Characidium boehlkei Géry 1972 in honor of American ichthyologist James E. Böhlke (1930–1982), Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, who suspected that Ecuadorian specimens of this species, which he reported as C. fasciatum, represented a new species
Characidium bolivianum Pearson 1924 –anum (L.), belonging to: Bolivia, where it is endemic to the Upper Madeira River basin
Characidium borellii (Boulenger 1895) in honor of French-born Italian zoologist Alfredo Borelli (1858–1943), Università di Torino, who led three expeditions to South America and collected many animals, including holotype of this one
Characidium brevirostre Pellegrin 1909 brevis (L.), short; rostre, Neo-Latin scientific adjective of rostrum (L.), snout, referring to its shorter snout compared with C. steindachneri
Characidium cacah Zanata, Ribeiro, Araújo-Porto, Pessali & Oliveira-Silva 2020 in honor of ichthyologist Carlos B. M. Alves, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, known to his friends as “Cacá,” for his “great” contribution to the knowledge of fishes of the rio das Velhas basin (Minas Gerais, Brazil, where this species is endemic) and for being one of its first collectors [a noun in apposition, without the patronymic “i”]
Characidium caucanum Eigenmann 1912 –anum (L.), belonging to: Cauca River basin, Colombia, where it is endemic
Characidium chancoense Agudelo-Zamora, Ortega-Lara & Taphorn 2020 –ense, Latin suffix denoting place: Río Chanco, Ansermanuevo, Valle del Cauca, Colombia, type locality
Characidium chicoi da Graça, Ota & Domingues 2019 in honor of Francisco Alves Teixeira, nicknamed Chico, retired laboratory assistant (Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Núcleo de Pesquisas em Limnologia, Ictiologia e Aquicultura), with 30+ years’ experience in biological material samples and an “excellent partner” in numerous field trips in Brazil, including the collection of this species
Characidium chupa Schultz 1944 local name for this species Río Chama at Estanques, Estado de Mérida, Venezuela type locality
Characidium clistenesi Melo & Espíndola 2016 in honor of the authors’ colleague, Brazilian ichthyologist Alexandre Clistenes de Alcântara Santos, Feira de Santana State University, for his long dedication in researching the natural history of the fishes of Chapada Diamantina, Bahia, Brazil, where this species occurs
Characidium crandellii Steindachner 1915 patronym not identified, possibly in honor of geologist Roderic Crandall (1885–?, note spelling), Brazilian Geological Survey, who lived in Boa Vista, Brazil, along the Rio Branco, one of the type localities
Characidium cricarense Malanski, Sarmento-Soares, Silva-Malanski, Lopes, Ingenito & Buckup 2019 –ense, Latin suffix denoting place: rio Cricaré, Espírito Santo, Brazil, type locality
Characidium declivirostre Steindachner 1915 declivis, Latin for declining downwards or sloping; rostre, Neo-Latin scientific adjective of rostrum (L.), snout, referring to obtuse angle of snout, sloping in a straight line from anterior edge of small mouth
Characidium deludens Zanata & Camelier 2015 Latin for false or deceitful, referring to “deceitful” vertical bars on body, similar to those on congeners such as C. fasciatum
Characidium dule Agudelo-Zamora, Tavera, Murillo & Ortega-Lara 2020 named for the Dule (Kuna) ethnic group of Maggilagundiwala or Resguardo de Arquía in Chocó, Colombia, where most of the type specimens were collected (linguistic footnote: the Kuna language is under a high risk of extinction)
Characidium duplicatum Armbruster, Lujan & Bloom 2021 Latin for double, referring to two unbranched anal-fin rays
Characidium etheostoma Cope 1872 “having much the same coloration of the Poecilichthys or Etheostoma [Perciformes: Percidae] of North American streams”
Characidium etzeli Zarske & Géry 2001 in honor of German veterinarian and killifish aquarist Vollrad Etzel (1944–2012)
Characidium fasciatum Reinhardt 1867 Latin for banded, referring to black stripe along body (and perhaps also to its 10–15 dusky vertical bands)
Characidium fleurdelis Zanata, Oliveira-Silva & Ohara 2023 named for the similarity of its three-pointed flower-like teeth to a stylized flower called fleur-de-lis
Characidium geryi (Zarske 1997) in honor of French physician and ichthyologist Jacques Géry (1917–2007), for significant contributions to the knowledge of characiform fishes, on the occasion of his 80th birthday
Characidium gomesi Travassos 1956 in honor of Alcides Lourenço Gomes (1916–1991), Estacão Experimental de Caça e Pesca (São Paulo, Brazil), who collected many of the paratypes in 1949 and described the similar C. pterostictum in 1947
Characidium grajahuense Travassos 1944 –ense, suffix denoting place: Grajaú, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, type locality
Characidium hasemani Steindachner 1915 in honor of American zoologist John D. Haseman (1882–1969), field collector for the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, who collected holotype
Characidium heinianum Zarske & Géry 2001 –anum (L.), belonging to: German freelance ichthyologist Günter Hein, who contributed in many ways to the senior author’s collecting trip to Bolivia, including helping to collect holotype
Characidium heirmostigmata da Graça & Pavanelli 2008 heirmós (Gr. εἱρμός), series; stigmata, Latin adjectival form of stígma (Gr. στίγμα) or stigmḗ (στιγμή), mark, but treated here a plural noun, referring to series of black marks on sides
Characidium helmeri Zanata, Sarmento-Soares & Martins-Pinheiro 2015 in honor of Brazilian ichthyologist José Luis Helmer, who collected part of the type species, for his pioneer studies on the natural history of the freshwater fishes of Espírito Santo and Bahia (Brazil) since 1976
Characidium interruptum Pellegrin 1909 Latin for interrupted, referring to lateral-line scalation that ends at dorsal-fin origin, comprising only nine scales
Characidium iaquira Zanata, Ohara, Oyakawa & Dagosta 2020 Tupí word for green, referring to “remarkable iridescent green” coloration of its body in life
Characidium japuhybense Travassos 1949 –ense, suffix denoting place: Japuhyba (Japuíba), Angra dos Reis, Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, type locality
Characidium kalunga Melo, Bouquerel, Masumoto, França & Netto-Ferreira 2021 named for the Comunidade Quilombola Kalunga, a “resilient” community of Afro-Brazilians who live in the Chapada dos Veadeiros area of Goiás, Brazil (where this species occurs), helping to protect its natural resources; also, kalunga means “sacred place” in the African Bantu language
Characidium kamakan Zanata & Camelier 2015 named after the Kamakã indigenous people who originally inhabited lower portion of río Pardo basin, Bahia, Brazil, where this species occurs
Characidium krenak Oliveira-Silva, Santos, Lopes & Zanata 2022 named for the Krenák indigenous people (also known as Aimorés, Grén or Krén) who nowadays inhabit a small area on the left margin of the rio Doce (Minas Gerais State, Brazil), where this species occurs; the Krenák were “victims of constant massacres in the past and are currently impacted by severe environmental alterations”
Characidium lagosantense Travassos 1947 –ense, Latin suffix denoting place: Lagoa Santa, Minas Gerais, Brazil, type locality
Characidium lanei Travassos 1967 in honor of the late John Lane (1905– 1963), Brazilian medical entomologist (son of American immigrants), who collected holotype
Characidium laterale (Boulenger 1895) Latin for of the side, referring to black line on side that extends from tip of snout, through eye, to base of caudal fin
Characidium lauroi Travassos 1949 in honor of the Travassos’ father, helminthologist-entomologist Lauro Travassos (1890–1970), who collected holotype
Characidium littorale Leitão & Buckup 2014 Latin for of the seashore, referring to distribution in coastal drainages between the Serra do Mar (Brazil) and the Atlantic Ocean
Characidium longum Taphorn, Montaña & Buckup 2006 Latin for long, referring to its extremely elongate body
Characidium macrolepidotum (Peters 1868) macro-, from makrós (Gr. μaκρóς), long or large; lepidōtós (Gr. λεπιδωτός), scaly, allusion not explained in Peters’ one-paragraph description; perhaps he believed it had larger scales than other Leporinus (Anostomidae), the genus to which he had erroneously assigned it
Characidium marshi Breder 1925 in honor of Richard Oglesby Marsh (1883–1953), engineer, American diplomat and amateur ethnologist, for his financial support of the Marsh-Darien Expedition to Panama in 1924
Characidium mirim Netto-Ferreira, Birindelli & Buckup 2013 Tupí word for small, being the smallest known species in the genus
Characidium nambiquara Zanata & Ohara 2020 named for the Nambiquara Indians who inhabit the Guaporé Valley (Mato Grosso, Brazil), where this species occurs (in Tupí, nambiquara means pierced ear, nambi, ear; quara, hole)
Characidium nana Mendonça & Netto-Ferreira 2015 in honor of Mariana Barreira Mendonça, the senior author’s sister, known by her family and friends as “Naná” [a noun in apposition, without the matronymic “ae”]
Characidium nupelia da Graça, Pavanelli & Buckup 2008 named for of Nupélia (Núcleo de Pesquisas em Limnologia, Ictiologia e Aqüicultura), for its role in the survey and ecological research of fishes from the Manso Reservoir region (Mato Grosso, Brazil), which led to the discovery of this species
Characidium occidentale Buckup & Reis 1997 Latin for western, referring to its distribution to the west of C. orientale
Characidium oiticicai Travassos 1967 in honor of the late José Oiticica Filho (1906–1964), entomologist, photographer and Travassos’ colleague at the Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
Characidium onca Melo, Brito Ribeiro & Lima 2021 onça, Portuguese name for the jaguar Panthera onca, referring to black spots on bright gold-yellow body (pronounced õ-sa)
Characidium orientale Buckup & Reis 1997 Latin for eastern, referring to its distribution to the east of C. occidentale
Characidium papachibe Peixoto & Wosiacki 2013 papa-chibé, a name traditionally associated with people from Pará, Brazil (type locality), named in their honor
Characidium pellucidum Eigenmann 1909 Latin for translucently clear, described as “pellucid in life” and resembling the North American percid Ammocrypta pellucida
Characidium phoxocephalum Eigenmann 1912 point-headed, from phoxós (Gr. φοξός), pointed or tapered, and kephalḗ (Gr. κεφαλή), head, probably referring to more-pointed snout compared with the similar C. caucanum
Characidium pteroides Eigenmann 1909 –oides, Neo-Latin from eí̄dos (Gr. εἶδος), having the form of: meaning not explained, perhaps alluding to the lionfish genus Pterois and/or to the word pterón (Gr. πτερόν), wing or fin, referring to its long pectoral fins, which reach the ventrals
Characidium pterostictum Gomes 1947 ptero-, from pterón (Gr. πτερόν) or ptéryx (πτέρυξ), wing or fin; stictum, from stiktós (Gr. στικτός) spotted, referring to light-brown spots on dorsal fin and variegated caudal fin
Characidium pumarinri Teixeira & Melo 2020 named for Pumarinri, a “famous” mountain in the south of the Cordillera Huayhuash in the Departamento de Huánuco, drained by the Río Huallaga on the eastern side of the Peruvin Andes, where this species occurs (from the Quecha puma, cougar, and rinri, ear, i.e., the puma’s ear)
Characidium purpuratum Steindachner 1882 Latin for clad in purple, referring to its purple caudal and anal fins
Characidium rachovii Regan 1913 in honor of German aquarist Arthur Rachow (1884–1960), who presented holotype to the British Museum (Natural History)
Characidium roesseli Géry 1965 in honor of Fritz Rössel, catfish specialist, Naturmuseum Senckenberg (Frankfurt, Germany)
Characidium samurai Zanata & Camelier 2014 in honor of the warrior caste of 11th- to 19th-century Japan, specifically their expertise in martial arts, attested today by the term “black belt,” referring to the fish’s conspicuous midlateral black band
Characidium sanctjohanni Dahl 1960 of San Juan (Latinized), referring to Río San Juan, western Colombia, type locality
Characidium satoi Melo & Oyakawa 2015 in honor of biologist Yoshimi Sato, Companhia de Desenvolvimento dos Vales do São Francisco e do Parnaíba (CODEVASF), for his contributions to the knowledge and conservation of the fishes of the Rio São Francisco drainage, where this species occurs
Characidium schindleri Zarske & Géry 2001 in honor of ichthyologist Otto Schindler (1906–1959), Zoologische Staatssammlung München, who collected holotype in 1953
Characidium schubarti Travassos 1955 in honor of German-born myriapodist Otto Schubart (1900–1962), Estação Experimental de Biologia e Piscicultura do Ministério de Agricultura (São Paulo, Brazil), who collected holotype
Characidium serrano Buckup & Reis 1997 Portuguese for “inhabitant of the serras,” referring to high plateau where rio Uruguay headwaters (where this fish occurs) are located
Characidium steindachneri Cope 1878 in honor of Austrian ichthyologist Franz Steindachner (1834–1919), “who has added much to our knowledge of the fishes of the Amazon” and from whom Cope has “derived much instruction in this department from his very full diagnostic analyses”
Characidium sterbai (Zarske 1997) in honor of Czech-born aquarist and zoologist Günther Sterba (1922–2021), University of Leipzig, on the occasion of his 75th birthday
Characidium stigmosum Melo & Buckup 2002 Latin for full of marks, referring to vertically oriented black marks on sides of body
Characidium summum Zanata & Ohara 2015 Latin for uppermost, highest or topmost, referring to the high altitude where it occurs, near Pico Tracoá, higher than 1100 m above sea level in the Serra dos Pacaás Novos, Rondônia, Brazil
Characidium tapuia Zanata, Ramos & Oliveira-Silva 2018 named for the Tapuia people who originally inhabited the area (upper and middle portions of the rio Parnaíba basin, Maranhão and Piauí states, Brazil) where this species occurs; tapuia is the Tupí word for barbarous and enemy
Characidium tatama Agudelo-Zamora, Tavera, Murillo & Ortega-Lara 2020 named for Tatamá National Natural Park (Chocó, Colombia), where most of the type specimens were collected (Tatamá in Embera-Chamí language means “grandfather of the rivers”)
Characidium tenue (Cope 1894) Latin for thin or slender, allusion not explained, probably referring to its very slender body
Characidium timbuiense Travassos 1946 –ense, Latin suffix denoting place: Timbuí River basin, Espírito Santo, Brazil, where type locality (Córrego Valsungana, a tributary) is situated
Characidium travassosi Melo, Buckup & Oyakawa 2016 in honor of the late Haroldo P. Travassos (1922–1977), physician-ichthyologist, Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), for his contributions to the taxonomy of the genus Characidium
Characidium vestigipinne Buckup & Hahn 2000 vestigium (L.), vestige; pinne, Neo-Latin adjective of pinna (L.), fin, i.e., finned, referring to its reduced adipose fin
Characidium vidali Travassos 1967 in honor of geologist-paleontologist Nei Vidal, Travassos’ colleague at Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Characidium wangyapoik Armbruster, Lujan & Bloom 2021 Patamona (Amerindian people native to the Pakaraima Mountains of Guyana and northern Brazil) name for this species, from wang, honey, and yapoik, seated, perhaps (per the authors) referring to its yellowish color (might the yapoik part of the name refer to its benthic behavior, i.e., “seated” on the bottom?)
Characidium xanthopterum Silveira, Langeani, da Graça, Pavanelli & Buckup 2008 yellow-finned, from xanthós (Gr. ξανθός), yellow, and pterón (Gr. πτερόν) or ptéryx (πτέρυξ), wing or fin, referring to its bright-yellow fins in life
Characidium xavante da Graça, Pavanelli & Buckup 2008 named for Xavante, an indigenous ethnic group inhabiting the region between Rio das Mortes and Rio Culuene (Mato Grosso, Brazil), where this species occurs; type locality (Córrego Vivanta, a stream) is also named for this group
Characidium zebra Eigenmann 1909 referring to its zebra-like markings, ~10 crossbands, sometimes doubling on the sides, giving the appearance of many narrow bands
Elachocharax Myers 1927 élacho (Gr. ἐλαχύς), small or insignificant, presumably referring to small size (22 mm) and/or small mouth of E. pulcher, “with scarcely any gape”; Charax, typical genus of the Characiformes, from chárax (Gr. χάραξ), a pointed stake of a palisade, referring to densely packed sharp teeth, now a common root-name formation in the order
Elachocharax geryi Weitzman & Kanazawa 1978 in honor of French physician and ichthyologist Jacques Géry (1917–2007), “whose enthusiasm for the study of characoid fishes of South America has been especially expressed in his publications on members of the Characidiinae”
Elachocharax junki (Géry 1971) in honor of Amazon-floodplain ecologist Wolfgang Junk (b. 1942), who helped collect holotype
Elachocharax mitopterus Weitzman 1986 thread-finned, from mítos (Gr. μίτος), thread, and pterus, from pterón (Gr. πτερόν) or ptéryx (πτέρυξ), wing or fin, referring to long thread-like rays of pectoral fin
Elachocharax pulcher Myers 1927 Latin for beautiful, a “pretty little species”
Klausewitzia Géry 1965 –ia (L. suffix), belonging to: German ichthyologist Wolfgang Klausewitz (1922–2018), Naturmuseum Senckenberg (Frankfurt), in honor of their friendship
Klausewitzia ritae Géry 1965 in honor of Rita Klausewitz (d. 1995), wife of ichthyologist Wolfgang Klausewitz
Leptocharacidium Buckup 1993 leptós (Gr. λεπτός), thin, fine or elegant, referring to relatively elongate snout; Characidium, type genus of subfamily
Leptocharacidium omospilus Buckup 1993 hṓmos (Gr. ὦμος), shoulder; spílos (Gr. σπίλος), mark or spot, referring to dark mark on skin overlaying the cleithrum
Melanocharacidium Buckup 1993 mélas (μέλας), black, referring to dark pigmentation of most congeners; Characidium, type genus of subfamily
Melanocharacidium auroradiatum Costa & Vicente 1994 auro-, from aurum (L.), gold; radiatum (L.), rayed, referring to golden rays on dorsal, anal and caudal fins
Melanocharacidium blennioides (Eigenmann 1909) –oides, Neo-Latin from eí̄dos (Gr. εἶδος), having the form of: referring to its blenny-like shape
Melanocharacidium compressum Buckup 1993 Latin for squeezed or pressed together, referring to its relatively compressed body form
Melanocharacidium depressum Buckup 1993 Latin for pressed down, referring to its relatively depressed body form
Melanocharacidium dispilomma Buckup 1993 di– (Gr. prefix), from dýo (δύο), two; spílos (Gr. σπίλος), mark or spot; ómma (Gr. ὄμμα), eye, referring to two dark marks above orbit, which distinguish it from the superficially similar M. blennioides
Melanocharacidium melanopteron Buckup 1993 mélanos (Gr. μέλανος), genitive of mélas (μέλας), black; pterón (Gr. πτερόν), fin, referring to the dark pigmentation of its fins
Melanocharacidium nigrum Buckup 1993 Latin for dark or black, referring to the black coloration of its entire body
Melanocharacidium pectorale Buckup 1993 Latin for pectoral or of the breast, referring to its disproportionally large cleithra, which ventrally forms a prominent crest across the prepectoral area and extends dorsally considerably beyond the supracleithra
Melanocharacidium rex (Böhlke 1958) Latin for king, presumably referring to its size (102.2 mm SL), large for a characidiine
Microcharacidium Buckup 1993 micro-, from mikrós (Gr. μικρός), small, referring to minute size of all species; Characidium, type genus of subfamily
Microcharacidium bombioides Vieira & Netto-Ferreira 2021 –oides, Neo-Latin from eí̄dos (Gr. εἶδος), having the form of: bumblebees of the genus Bombus, referring to bee-like color pattern of thick, dark bars, alternated by clear, light areas
Microcharacidium eleotrioides (Géry 1960) –oides, Neo-Latin from eí̄dos (Gr. εἶδος), having the form of: resembling a young sleeper goby (Eleotris, Gobiiformes: Eleotridae)
Microcharacidium gnomus Buckup 1993 Neo-Latin for gnome, a diminutive fabled being, referring to this fish’s small size
Microcharacidium weitzmani Buckup 1993 in honor of American ichthyologist Stanley H. Weitzman (1927–2017), National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution (Washington, D.C.) “whose interest in miniature fishes led to the description of several small characiforms”; this species is “one of the smallest among these miniatures”
Odontocharacidium Buckup 1993 odontos, Latinized and grammatically adjusted from the Greek nominative ὀδούς (odoús), tooth, referring to presence of maxillary teeth on only known species; Characidium, type genus of subfamily
Odontocharacidium aphanes (Weitzman & Kanazawa 1977) aphanḗs (Gr. ἀφανής), invisible, secret or unknown, referring to its “cryptic qualities” in life (e.g., small size, hiding in vegetation, slowly moving from place to place)
Odontocharacidium varii Queiroz Rodrigues & Netto-Ferreira 2020 in honor of Richard P. Vari (1949–2016), National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution (Washington, D.C., USA), who collected holotype in 1985 and was a “constant professional inspiration to the authors”
Skiotocharax Presswell, Weitzman & Bergquist 2000 skiōtós (Gr. σκιωτός), striped in shades (authors say “shaded by gradation in color”), referring to gradation of pigmentation from dorsal (dark) to ventral (pale); Charax, typical genus of the Characiformes, from chárax (Gr. χάραξ), a pointed stake of a palisade referring to densely packed sharp teeth, now a common root-name formation in the order
Skiotocharax meizon Presswell, Weitzman & Bergquist 2000 meizōn (Gr. μείζων), comparative of mégas (μέγας), i.e., greater or larger, described as “somewhat larger” than another miniature member of its clade, Odontocharacidium aphanes