| Parachanna | |
|---|---|
) | |
) | |
| P. africana (above), P. obscura (below) | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Anabantiformes |
| Family: | Channidae |
| Genus: | Parachanna Teugels & Daget, 1984 |
| Type species | |
| Ophiocephalus obscurus Günther, 1861 | |
| Species | |
| See text | |
) | |
| Combined range of the Parachanna species | |
Parachanna is a genus of snakeheads native to freshwater habitats in tropical Africa. Three recognized extant (living) species are in this genus, but a phylogenetic study from 2017 indicates that a fourth, currently undescribed species also exists.[1]
One fossil species, Parachanna fayumensis Murray, 2006 dated to the Upper Eocene and Lower Oligocene is known from the Jebel Qatrani Formation of the Fayum Depression, Egypt.
Species
The three recognized extant species in this genus are:[2]
- Parachanna africana (Steindachner, 1879) (African snakehead)
- Parachanna insignis (Sauvage, 1884) (brown snakehead)
- Parachanna obscura (Günther, 1861) (obscure snakehead)
References
- "Parachanna". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 6 June 2006.
- ^ Conte-Grand, C., Britz, R., Dahanukar, N., Raghavan, R., Pethi-yagoda, R., Tan, H.H., Hadiaty, R.K., Yaakob, N.S. & Rüber, L. (2017). Barcoding snakeheads (Teleostei, Channidae) re-visited: Discovering greater species diversity and resolving perpetuated taxonomic confusions. PLoS ONE, 12 (9): e0184017.
- ^ Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2013). Species of Parachanna in FishBase. February 2013 version.