Updated 19 Dec. 2023
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Couesius Jordan 1878 –ius (L.), pertaining to: Army surgeon and ornithologist Elliot Coues (1842–1899, pronounced “cows”), “one of the very foremost of American students of vertebrates,” who collected a series of fishes from Montana and the Dakota Territory, including holotype of C. dissimilis (=plumbeus)

Couesius plumbeus (Agassiz 1850) Latin for of or pertaining to lead, referring to a “narrow lead-colored” band extending along upper side of lateral line

Hemitremia Cope 1870 hemi-, from hḗmisys (Gr. ἥμισυς), half; tremia, from trḗma (Gr. τρῆμα), hole, referring to incomplete lateral line, which extends only about halfway across the body with fewer than half of its scales pored

Hemitremia flammea (Jordan & Gilbert 1878) Latin for flaming or fiery, referring to bright-red breeding colors of both sexes (hence the common name “Flame Chub”)

Lepidomeda Cope 1874 lepídos (Gr. λεπίδος), genitive of lepίs (λεπίς), scale, similar to the scaleless Meda but with scales

Lepidomeda albivallis Miller & Hubbs 1960 albus (L.), white; vallis (L.), valley, referring to White River Valley, Nevada, USA, where it is endemic

Lepidomeda aliciae (Jouy 1881) in honor of Jouy’s wife Alice (1853–1880), who accompanied her husband on his collecting expeditions in China, Japan, Korea, México, and western USA (where this species was collected in Utah)

Lepidomeda altivelis Miller & Hubbs 1960 alti-, from altus (L.), high; velis, from velum (L.), sail, referring to its high, expanded dorsal fin

Lepidomeda copei (Jordan & Gilbert 1881) in honor of American zoologist-paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope (1840–1897), who described dozens of North American minnows

Lepidomeda mollispinis Miller & Hubbs 1960 mollis (L.), soft; spinis, from spina (L.), thorn, referring to its relatively weak and soft-tipped main (second) dorsal spine

Lepidomeda mollispinis pratensis Miller & Hubbs 1960 –ensis, Latin suffix denoting place: pratum (L.), meadow, referring to meadowlands of Big Spring, Nevada, USA, where it is endemic

Lepidomeda vittata Cope 1874 Latin for banded, presumably referring to lead-colored band on upper body and/or a “median dorsal black band from front to dorsal fin”

Margariscus Cockerell 1909 –iscus (L.), a diminutive, presumably referring to M. margarita, type species

Margariscus margarita (Cope 1867) Latin for pearl, allusion not explained, perhaps referring to pearly gray sides to half-way above lateral line, described as “plumbeous silvery” (males develop pearl organs, or breeding tubercles, in the spring, but these are not mentioned by Cope)

Margariscus nachtriebi (Cox 1896) in honor of Henry F. Nachtrieb (1859–1942), state zoologist of Minnesota, USA, where Mille Lacs Lake, type locality, is situated

Margariscus nachtriebi koelzi (Hubbs & Lagler 1949) in honor of American fisheries biologist Walter Koelz (1895–1989), for his contribution to the ichthyology of Isle Royale, Michigan, USA, where it is endemic

Meda Girard 1856 a name from Greek mythology (Μήδα), presumably chosen because Girard like the sound of it

Meda fulgida Girard 1856 Latin for shining, “the middle of the flanks as if painted with silver”

Plagopterus Cope 1874 plago (L.), to strike or wound; pterus, from pterón (Gr. πτερόν) or ptéryx (πτέρυξ), fin, referring to its sharp dorsal-fin spine (hence the common name “Woundfin”)

Plagopterus argentissimus Cope 1874 Latin for most silvery, its color a “pure silver for a considerable width above the lateral line”

Semotilus Rafinesque 1820 etymology not explained; Jordan (1878) offered this explanation: semo-, probably derived from sēmeī́on (Gr. σημεῖον), banner, i.e., dorsal fin, and teleis, or a similar word, supposed by Rafinesque to mean “spotted,” referring to black spot at leading edge of dorsal-fin base of S. dorsalis (=atromaculatus)

Semotilus atromaculatus (Mitchill 1818) atro-, from ater (L.), black; maculatus (L.), spotted, referring to back, sides, belly and fins “marked by black dots, consisting of a soft or viscous matter, capable of being detached by the point of a knife without lacerating the skin”; these dots are likely symptomatic of Black Spot Disease, in which the fish serves as an intermediate host to the larvae of digenean trematodes (flukes) of the families Diplostomatidae and Heterophyidae, causing raised black “spots” (actually nodules) where the parasite has encysted itself in the skin of the fish

Semotilus corporalis (Mitchill 1817) Latin for corporeal or of the body, but in this case a Latinization of Corporalen (Corporal), its local name among the Dutch in the Hudson Valley near Albany, New York, USA

Semotilus lumbee Snelson & Suttkus 1978 named for the Lumbee Indians who inhabited the Lumber River system in North Carolina, USA, type locality

Semotilus thoreauianus Jordan 1877 –anus (L.), belonging to: American writer and philosopher Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862), “an excellent ichthyologist, one of the first to say a good word for the study of Cyprinidae”; in 1842, Thoreau wrote: “I am the wiser in respect to all knowledge, and the better qualified for all fortunes, for knowing that there is a minnow in the brook.”