The Pseudocrenilabrinae are a

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoolog ...

in the cichlid family of fishes to which, according to a study from 2004, includes all the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europea ...

ern and

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

n cichlids with the exception of the unusual '' Heterochromis multidens'' and the Malagasy species. This subfamily includes more than 1,100 species. Previous authors recognized additional African subfamilies, e.g. the Tilapiinae of Hoedeman (1947), Tylochrominae of

Poll Poll, polled, or polling may refer to: Figurative head counts * Poll, a formal election ** Election verification exit poll, a survey taken to verify election counts ** Polling, voting to make decisions or determine opinions ** Polling places ...

(1986), or Boulengerochrominae of Tawil (2001). To this subfamily belong the cichlids from the

African Great Lakes The African Great Lakes ( sw, Maziwa Makuu; rw, Ibiyaga bigari) are a series of lakes constituting the part of the Rift Valley lakes in and around the East African Rift. They include Lake Victoria, the second-largest fresh water lake in the wo ...

, such as the

utaka '' Copadichromis azureus'', one of the utaka of Lake Malawi in Africa Utaka is the term used for open water-dwelling cichlids found in Lake Malawi, the most diverse source of cichlids in the world of aquaria. Among others, they comprise all the ...

and

mbuna Mbuna (pronounced Mmm-boo - nah ) is the common name for a large group of African cichlids from Lake Malawi, and are members of the haplochromine family. The name ''mbuna'' means "rockfish" in the language of the Tonga people of Malawi.Loiselle P ...

Lake Malawi Lake Malawi, also known as Lake Nyasa in Tanzania and Lago Niassa in Mozambique, is an African Great Lake and the southernmost lake in the East African Rift system, located between Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania. It is the fifth largest fre ...

, and various species from

Lake Victoria Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. With a surface area of approximately , Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake by area, the world's largest tropical lake, and the world's second-largest fresh water lake by surface area after L ...

and

Lake Tanganyika Lake Tanganyika () is an African Great Lake. It is the second-oldest freshwater lake in the world, the second-largest by volume, and the second-deepest, in all cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia. It is the world's longest freshwater lake. T ...

. The Pseudocrenilabrinae

tribes The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to conflic ...

Haplochromini and

Oreochromini Oreochromini is a tribe of cichlids in the Pseudocrenilabrinae subfamily that is native to Africa and Western Asia, but a few species have been widely introduced to other parts of the world. It was formerly considered to be part of the tribe Ti ...

are widespread in Africa and also found in the Middle East, while Chromidotilapiini,

Hemichromini Hemichromini is a tribe of African cichlids. The group consists of 14 species of freshwater fish Freshwater fish are those that spend some or all of their lives in fresh water, such as rivers and lakes, with a salinity of less than 1.05%. The ...

and Tylochromini are primarily West and Central African. The remaining tribes are largely or entirely restricted to Lake Tanganyika.

Systematics

Apart from the tribes mentioned in the adjacent box,

Bathybatini Bathybatini is a tribe of cichlids endemic to Lake Tanganyika in Africa. They are mostly found in relatively deep waters and mainly feed on fish ('' Bathybates'' and '' Hemibates'') or plankton ('' Trematocara'').Smith, M.P. (1998). Lake Tanganyi ...

, Benthochromini,

Boulengerochromini The giant cichlid (''Boulengerochromis microlepis''), also known as the emperor cichlid, is a species of fish in the family Cichlidae, endemic to Lake Tanganyika in Africa.Coelotilapiini ''Coelotilapia joka'' is a vulnerable species of cichlid fish from rivers in Sierra Leone and Liberia in West Africa. This relatively small tilapia formerly was included in the genus ''Tilapia'', but in 2013 it was moved to its own genus ''Coelo ...

, Coptodonini, Cyphotilapiini,

Eretmodini Eretmodini is a tribe of African cichlids. It contains five species of freshwater fish endemic to Lake Tanganyika. They are small fish with reduced swim bladders that are found near the bottom in the turbulent, coastal surf zone.Smith, M.P. (1998 ...

, Etiini, Greenwoodochromini, Heterotilapiini,

Limnochromini Limnochromini is a tribe of African cichlids from Lake Tanganyika. They are bi-parental and mouthbrooding Mouthbrooding, also known as oral incubation and buccal incubation, is the care given by some groups of animals to their offspring by hol ...

, Pelmatolapiini, Perissodini, Steatocranini and Trematocarini are sometimes also recognized.Dunz; and Schliewen (2013). Molecular phylogeny and revised classification of the haplotilapiine cichlid fishes formerly referred to as Tilapia. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 68: 64-80. The

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

genus '' Mahengechromis'' is apparently quite singular Pseudocrenilabrinae, distinct from any of the established tribes.

Genera

The subfamily Pseudocrenilabrinae has been arranged as follows by some authorities

Systematics

Genera

References

Further reading