Lavinia (genus)

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, ITIS and Taxonomicon all record 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

• Valid species list of genus Lavinia on FishBase.
• "Lavinia". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=163568. Retrieved 6 June 2006. 
• Peter B. Moyle, Inland Fishes of California (University of California Press, 2002), pp. 141
• Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2006). Species of Lavinia in FishBase. February 2006 version.