Hepsetus

Hepsetus is a genus of African fishes, the African pikes or African pike characins, in the order Characiformes. It is the sole genus in the family Hepsetidae. It was long believed that only a single widespread species existed, H. odoe,^[1] but studies in 2011–2013 have shown that this species is restricted to parts of West and Central Africa. The well-known species of southern Africa, including Kafue River, is Hepsetus cuvieri.^[2] These predatory fish reach up to 44 cm (17 in) in length.^[3]

Hepsetus
Hepsetus lineatus
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Characiformes
Family:	Hepsetidae C. L. Hubbs, 1939
Genus:	Hepsetus Swainson, 1838
Type species
Salmo odoe Bloch, 1794
Synonyms
Hydrocyonoides Castelnau, 1861 Sarcodaces Günther, 1864

Species

There are currently six recognized species in this genus:^[3][4]

• Hepsetus cuvieri (Castelnau, 1861)^[2]
• Hepsetus kingsleyae Vreven, Decru & Snoeks, 2013^[5]
• Hepsetus lineatus (Pellegrin, 1926)^[5]
• Hepsetus microlepis (Boulenger, 1901)^[6]
• Hepsetus occidentalis Decru, Snoeks & Vreven, 2013^[7]
• Hepsetus odoe (Bloch, 1794)^[8]

Synonym:

• Hepsetus akawo Decru, Vreven & Snoeks, 2012 = Hepsetus odoe^[7][9]

References

1. Nelson, J. S. (2006). Fishes of the World (4 ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 161–162. ISBN 978-0-471-25031-9.
2. Zengeya, T. A.; Decru, E. & Vreven, E. (2011). "Revalidation of Hepsetus cuvieri (Castelnau, 1861) (Characiformes: Hepsetidae) from the Quanza, Zambezi and southern part of the Congo ichthyofaunal provinces". Journal of Natural History. 45 (27–28): 1723–1744. doi:10.1080/00222933.2011.560724.
3. Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Species in genus Hepsetus". FishBase. December 2020 version.
4. Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Hepsetus". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
5. Decru, E.; Vreven, E. & Snoeks, J. (2013). "A revision of the Lower Guinean Hepsetus species (Characiformes; Hepsetidae) with the description of Hepsetus kingsleyae sp. nov". Journal of Fish Biology. 82 (4): 1351–1375. doi:10.1111/jfb.12079. PMID 23557311.
6. Decru, E.; Snoeks, J. & Vreven, E. (2015). "Taxonomic evaluation of the Hepsetus from the Congo basin with the revalidation of H. microlepis (Teleostei: Hepsetidae)". Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters. 26 (3): 273–287.
7. Decru, E.; Snoeks, J. & Vreven, E. (2013). "The true identity of the holotype of Hepsetus odoe and the names of the two West African species of Hepsetus (Teleostei: Hepsetidae)" (PDF). Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters. 24 (2): 187–192.
8. Decru, E.; Vreven, E. & Snoeks, J. (January 2012). "A revision of the West African Hepsetus (Characiformes: Hepsetidae) with a description of Hepsetus akawo sp. nov. and a redescription of Hepsetus odoe (Bloch, 1794)". Journal of Natural History. 46 (1–2): 1–23. doi:10.1080/00222933.2011.622055.
9. FishBase: Scientific Names where Genus Equals Hepsetus