Revised 19 Jan. 2024
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Asiatic Featherbacks
Subfamily NOTOPTERINAE Bleeker 1851
Chitala Fowler 1934 Bengali vernacular for fishes in this genus, tautonymous with Mystus chitala Hamilton 1822
Chitala blanci (d’Aubenton 1965) in honor of friend and colleague Maurice Blanc (1923-2015), ichthyologist and Deputy Director, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (Paris), in memory of an “especially dangerous” (translation) 1959 fish-collecting trip to the Cambodian Mekong, where this species occurs
Chitala borneensis (Bleeker 1851) -ensis, Latin suffix denoting place: Borneo (Kalimantan Barat, Indonesia), where it is endemic
Chitala chitala (Hamilton 1822) Bengali vernacular for this species (and others in the genus)
Chitala hypselonotus (Bleeker 1852) hypsēlós (Gr. ὑψηλός), high; notus, from nṓtos (Gr. νῶτος), back, probably referring to its strongly concave cranio-dorsal outline (a characteristic of the genus)
Chitala lopis (Bleeker 1851) from Ikan Lopis, local name for this fish in Samarang, Indonesia (ikan = fish)
Chitala ornata (Gray 1831) Latin for adorned or decorated, referring to large round eyespots on tail
Notopterus Lacepède 1800 notus, from nṓtos (Gr. νῶτος), back; pterus, from pterón (Gr. πτερόν) or ptéryx (πτέρυξ), feather or fin, referring to its small, quill-like dorsal fin (tautonymous with Gymnotus notopterus Pallas 1769)
Notopterus notopterus (Pallas 1769) back-finned, from nṓtos (Gr. νῶτος), back, and pterón (Gr. πτερόν) or ptéryx (πτέρυξ), feather or fin, referring to its small, quill-like dorsal fin
Notopterus synurus (Bloch & Schneider 1801) together-tailed, from syn (Gr. συν), together or joined, and ourá (Gr. οὐρά), tail, presumably referring to its confluent caudal and anal fins
African Knifefishes
Subfamily XENOMYSTINAE Greenwood 1963
Papyrocranus Greenwood 1963 pápuros (Gr. πᾰ́πῡρος), papyrus, an Egyptian sedge and the paper made from it; krános (Gr. κράνος), helmet, referring to the paper-thin roofing bones of the skull
Papyrocranus afer (Günther 1868) Latin for African, being an African representative of a family primarily known from Asia
Papyrocranus congoensis (Nichols & La Monte 1932) -ensis, Latin suffix denoting place: Congo River basin of west-central Africa, where it is endemic
Xenomystus Günther 1868 xénos (Gr. ξένος), strange or foreign, perhaps referring to the African distribution of a family primarily known from Asia, and/or to the oddity of mystus, from mýstax (Gr. μύσταξ), moustache, referring to its “Nasal appendages rather long, forming a pair of barbels as long as the snout”
Xenomystus nigri (Günther 1868) of the Niger River, West Africa, type locality