Media Luna Pupfish
Cualac tessellatus Miller, 1956
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
The checkered pupfish (Cualac tessellatus) is a species of pupfish endemic to San Luis Potosí in Mexico where it is restricted to the Río Verde and associated waters, including the Media Luna lake (all part of the Pánuco River basin). This species grows to a total length of 8 cm (3.1 in). It is the only known member of its genus.
Wikipedia contributors, Checkered pupfish; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T08:15:58.800388+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Cualac tessellatus Miller, 1956
- Name authority
- Miller, 1956
- Common name
- Media Luna Pupfish
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Cyprinodontiformes
- Family
- Cyprinodontidae
- Genus
- Cualac
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: no · Freshwater: yes · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderCyprinodontiformes
- familyCyprinodontidae Wagner, 1828
- subfamilyCyprinodontinae Wagner, 1828
- genusCualac Miller, 1956
- speciesCualac tessellatus Miller, 1956
Close classified relatives
No other member of this genus is present in the selected snapshot.
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Cualac tesselatus Miller, 1956 Miller, 1956 | synonym |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- Miller, R. R. (1956). A new genus and species of cyprinodontid fish from San Luis Potosi, Mexico, with remarks on the subfamily Cyprinodontinae. Occasional Papers of the Museum of Zoology University of Michigan, No. 581: 1–17, Pls. 1–2. Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:3284Q. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.