Etheostoma sellare (Radcliffe & Welsh, 1913)
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 Maryland darter (Etheostoma sellare) is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish, a darter from the subfamily Etheostomatinae, part of the family Percidae, which also contains the perches, ruffes and pikeperches. It is considered one of the rarest freshwater fish species in the world, due in part to its extremely limited geographic range and difficulty of detection. The last sighting of one was in 1988. The Maryland darter is named after the only state in which it is known to occur. The species was long known only by two specimens until being "re-discovered" in 1962. From 1965 into the 1980s, the species was believed to have been confined to a single riffle in Deer Creek. Possible explanations for the decline of the species center around widespread habitat degradation and reduction in water quality resulting from increasing rates of urbanization within the watershed. While the IUCN has declared the species extinct, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service has not, and keeps it on the Endangered Species List.
Wikipedia contributors, Maryland darter; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T22:30:20.034896+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Etheostoma sellare (Radcliffe & Welsh, 1913)
- Name authority
- (Radcliffe & Welsh, 1913)
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Perciformes
- Family
- Percidae
- Genus
- Etheostoma
- 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
- orderPerciformes
- suborderPercoidei
- familyPercidae Rafinesque, 1815
- subfamilyEtheostomatinae Agassiz, 1850
- genusEtheostoma Rafinesque, 1819
- speciesEtheostoma sellare (Radcliffe & Welsh, 1913)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Etheostoma. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Etheostoma artesiae (Hay, 1881) | PercidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Etheostoma asprigene (Forbes, 1878) | PercidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Etheostoma autumnale Mayden, 2010 | PercidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Etheostoma barbouri Kuehne & Small, 1971 | PercidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Etheostoma basilare Page, Hardman & Near, 2003 | PercidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Etheostoma bellator Suttkus & Bailey, 1993 | PercidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Etheostoma bison Ceas & Page, 1997 | PercidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Etheostoma boschungi Wall & Williams, 1974 | PercidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Etheostoma burri Ceas & Page, 1997 | PercidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Etheostoma cervus Powers & Mayden, 2003 | PercidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Etheostoma chermocki Boschung, Mayden & Tomelleri, 1992 | PercidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Etheostoma chlorobranchium Zorach, 1972 | PercidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Hadropterus sellaris Radcliffe & Welsh, 1913 Radcliffe & Welsh, 1913 | 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.
- https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1525897 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:3BL6S. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.