Tecopa Pupfish - Taxonomy

Taxonomy

The Tecopa pupfish is member of the genus Cyprinodon (pupfish) of the family Cyprinodontidae (killifish). Most divergence of local Cyprinodon species likely took place during the early-to-mid Pleistocene, a time when pluvial lakes intermittently filled the now-desert region, though some may have occurred during the last 10,000 years. The evaporation of the lakes resulted in the geographic isolation of small Cyprinodon populations in remnant wetlands and the speciation of C. nevadensis.

C. n. calidae was first described as a subspecies in 1948 by Robert Rush Miller, after six years of study. Miller also identified five other subspecies: the Amargosa River pupfish (C. n. amargosae), the Ash Meadows pupfish (C. n. mionectes), the Saratoga Springs pupfish (C. n. nevadensis), the Warm Springs pupfish (C. n. pectoralis), and the Shoshone pupfish (C. n. shoshone).

Other local Cyprinodons include the Death Valley pupfish (Cyprinodon salinus), the Devil's Hole pupfish, (Cyprinodon diabolis) the desert pupfish (Cyprinodon macularius) and the Owens pupfish (Cyprinodon radiosus).