Nematolebias whitei (Myers, 1942)

Open encyclopedia reference

Nematolebias whitei, the Rio pearlfish, is a species of killifish from the family Rivulidae. It is endemic to Brazil where it is found in the Laguna de Araruama basin, Das Ostras River basin and in coastal plains in the vicinity of the mouth of São João River in Rio de Janeiro State. It was introduced to California in the 20th Century but they did not become established there. Nematolebias whitei is found in small temporary, shallow pools of freshwater on the floodplains of streams and lagoons which have a compact, soft reddish brown muddy substrate and which dry out twice a year. Once during the southern winter in July and August, and again during the southern summer, normally in February and March. When these pools dry out all the fish die and the eggs which have been laid in the muddy bottom go through diapause. When the pools fill up in the wet seasons, in March–April and September–October the eggs hatch. It is the type species of its genus. The species was described as Cynolebias whitei by George S.

Wikipedia contributors, Nematolebias whitei; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T23:18:02.395374+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Nematolebias whitei (Myers, 1942)

Name authority

(Myers, 1942)

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Teleostei

Order

Cyprinodontiformes

Family

Rivulidae

Genus

Nematolebias

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.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. gigaclassActinopterygii
8. superclassActinopteri
9. classTeleostei
10. orderCyprinodontiformes
11. familyRivulidae Myers, 1925
12. genusNematolebias Costa, 1998
13. speciesNematolebias whitei (Myers, 1942)

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Nematolebias. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 386 records assigned to Rivulidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

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.

1. https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1013913 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:466VN. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.