Formerly Puntius padamya, the ‘Odessa barb’ is now renamed Pethia padamya.

The Asian cyprinid genus Puntius is partially revised by Rohan Pethiyagoda, Madhava Meegaskumbura, and Kalana Maduwage in the latest volume of the journal ‘Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters‘.

It contains many popular aquarium fishes and has been considered a ‘catch-all’ polyphyletic assemblage for a number of years with over 220 nominal members of which around 120 are currently valid. They’re distributed throughout tropical South and Southeast Asia but the new study is focussed on those species native to the sub-Himalayan region of  South Asia.

The morphology, osteology, and molecular phylogeny of 39 cyprinid species, including 30 species of Puntius sensu lato from India and Sri Lanka, was analysed and five distinct lineages identified. These lineages are  recognisable as genera, of which three, Dravidia, Dawkinsia, and Pethia, have been assigned names new to science. Among these Dawkinsia is named for famous evolutionary biologist and author Richard Dawkins.

The changes in taxonomy affect a number of popular aquarium fishes and we’ll be publishing a blog article shortly which will discuss these details in more depth.

For further information please see the full, open access paper: Pethiyagoda, R., M. Meegaskumbura and K. Maduwage. 2012. A synopsis of the South Asian fishes referred to Puntius (Pisces: Cyprinidae). Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters 23(1): 69-95