Bryconidae
| Bryconidae Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
| Two large bryconids in Bonito: Salminus brasiliensis (foreground) and Brycon hilarii (background) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| (unranked): | Otophysi |
| Order: | Characiformes |
| Suborder: | Characoidei |
| Family: | Bryconidae C. H. Eigenmann, 1912 |
| Type genus | |
| Brycon | |
| Subfamilies | |
|
see text | |
Bryconidae, also known as bryconids, is a family of freshwater fishes belonging to the order Characiformes. They are native to South America. Some species reach particularly large sizes for characins, with Salminus franciscanus being one of the largest characiforms overall.
Genera:
- Family Bryconidae Eigenmann, 1912
- Subfamily Bryconinae Eigenmann, 1912
- Genus Brycon Müller & Troschel, 1844
- Genus Chilobrycon Géry & de Rham, 1981
- Genus Henochilus Garman, 1890
- Subfamily Salmininae Cockerell, 1915
- Subfamily Bryconinae Eigenmann, 1912
The earliest known fossil member of this group is †Brycon avus (Woodward, 1898) from the Oligocene-aged Tremembé Formation of Brazil. A slightly older potential specimen of B. avus is also known from the Late Eocene/Early Oligocene of the Aiuruoca Basin.
The following cladogram based on a 2014 maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree of Bryconidae. It recovers the consensus that Brycon is not monophyletic as the genus encompasses multiple lineages:
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The most recent common ancestor of Bryconidae is thought to have originated in Northwestern South America.