Lavinia (genus)

Taxobox
name = "Lavinia"
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Actinopterygii
ordo = Cypriniformes
familia = Cyprinidae
genus = "Lavinia"
genus_authority = Girard, 1854
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision = "Lavinia exilicauda" and see text

"Lavinia" is a genus of cyprinid fish consisting of one or two species native to western North America.

While there is little doubt as to the membership of the Hitch ("L. exilicauda"), the position of the closely-related California Roach is less clear. While FishBase records it as "Hesperoleucus symmetricus", Moyle observes that hybrids of the two species are fertile, and that the genetic relationship is also close, and the older genus "Lavinia" should take precedence.

The origin of the genus name is the mythological Lavinia, although the rationale is unclear.

References

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* Peter B. Moyle, "Inland Fishes of California" (University of California Press, 2002), pp. 141
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