Updated 3 Jan. 2024
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Carnegiella Eigenmann 1909 –iella, Latin diminutive connoting endearment: named for Margaret Carnegie (1897–1990), only child of industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919), whose Carnegie Museum co-sponsored Eigenmann’s 1908 expedition to British Guiana and published his report

Carnegiella marthae Myers 1927 in honor of Myers’ first wife, Martha Ruth (née Frisinger)

Carnegiella myersi Fernández-Yépez 1950 in honor of American ichthyologist George S. Myers (1905–1985), Stanford University, for “extensive contributions” to the knowledge of South American fishes

Carnegiella schereri Fernández-Yépez 1950 in honor of William G. Scherer, Evangelical Mission at Pebas, Peru, who collected holotype and provided “magnificent help with his collection of fishes from the Peruvian Amazon”

Carnegiella strigata (Günther 1864) Latin for furrowed or grooved (i.e., striped), presumably referring to four blackish bands radiating from middle of convex edge of thorax

Gasteropelecus Scopoli 1777 gastḗr (Gr. γαστήρ), belly or abdomen; pélekus (Gr. πέλεκυς), battle axe, referring to distinctive hatchet-shaped thorax

Gasteropelecus levis (Eigenmann 1909) Latin for smooth or bald, presumably referring to absence of maxillary teeth

Gasteropelecus maculatus Steindachner 1879 Latin for spotted, referring to numerous small black or gray spots on sides

Gasteropelecus sternicla (Linnaeus 1758) etymology not explained, perhaps from stérnon (Gr. στέρνον), breast or chest (especially of men), referring to its deep, trenchant thorax

Thoracocharax Fowler 1907 thoraco-, from thṓrax (Gr. θώραξ), breast or chest, referring to hatchet-shaped body; 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

Thoracocharax securis (De Filippi 1853) Latin for axe or hatchet, referring to shape of thorax

Thoracocharax stellatus (Kner 1858) Latin for studded with stars, referring to scales of upper 3–4 longitudinal rows, each with circular radii, which form a “a peculiar beautiful star-like drawing” (translation)