Megupsilon aporus Miller & Walters, 1972
Catarina pupfish
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Conservation Status
Extinct
Last record: 2014
IUCN RedList status: Extinct
Distribution
El Potosí (Potosí Spring), Nuevo Leon, Mexico
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Media
Burkhead (2012:805) includes two images, one of the Potosí Spring in 1972, and then its replacement by a grassed area in 1995.
Above: The last captive-bred male Megupsilon aporus photographed in the laboratory of Christopher Martin at UC Berkeley. Photo by Christopher Martin. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
References
Original scientific description:
Miller, R. R. and Walters, V. (1972). A new genus of cyprinodontid fish from Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Contributions in Science, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County 233: 1-13.
Other references:
Burkhead, Noel M. (2012). Extinction Rates in North American Freshwater Fishes, 1900–2010. BioScience 62(9): 798-808.
Contreras-Balderas, S. & Almada-Villela, P. (1996). Megupsilon aporus. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.1. (http://www.iucnredlist.org). Downloaded on 21 July 2012.
Contreras-Balderas, S., & Lozano-Vilano, M. D. L. (1996). Extinction of most Sandia and Potosi valleys(Nuevo Leon, Mexico) endemic pupfishes, crayfishes and snails. Ichthyological exploration of freshwaters. Munchen 7(1): 33-40.
González, Arcadio Valdés et al. (2018). The extinction of the Catarina pupfish Megupsilon aporus and the implications for the conservation of freshwater fish in Mexico. Oryx. doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S003060531800056X [Abstract]
Haas, R. (1979). Intergeneric hybridization in a sympatric pair of Mexican cyprinodontid fishes. Copeia 1979: 149-152. [Abstract]
Jelks, Howard L., Walsh, Stephen J., Burkhead, Noel M., Contreras-Balderas, Salvador, Díaz-Pardo, Edmundo, Hendrickson, Dean A., Lyons, J., Mandrak, Nicholas E., McCormick, Frank, Nelson, Joseph F., Platania, Steven P., Porter, Brady A., Renaud, Claude B., Schmitter-Soto, Juan Jacabo, Taylor, Eric B. and Warren, Melvin L. Jr. (2008). Conservation status of imperiled North American freshwater and diadromous fishes. Fisheries 33(8): 372-407.
Liu, Robert K. and Echelle, Anthony A. (2013). Behavior of the Catarina Pupfish (Cyprinodontidae: Megupsilon aporus), a Severely Imperiled Species. The Southwestern Naturalist 58(1): 1-7. [Abstract]
Lozano-Vilano, M. L. and Maza-Benignos, M. De La. (2016). Diversity and status of Mexican killifishes. Journal of Fish Biology. DOI: 10.1111/jfb.13186 [Abstract]
Lozano-Vilano, M.L. and Maza-Benignos, M. 2017. Diversity and status of Mexican killifishes. Journal of Fish Biology 90(1): 3-38.
Miller, R.R., Minckley, W.L. and Norris, S.M. 2005 . Freshwater Fishes of México. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Smith, Donal et al. (2023). Extinct in the wild: The precarious state of Earth’s most threatened group of species. Science 379(6634): eadd2889. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.add2889
Valdés González, A. (2019). Megupsilon aporus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2019: e.T13013A511283. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-2.RLTS.T13013A511283.en. Accessed on 12 June 2022.
Valdés González, A., Martínez Estévez, L., Ángeles Villeda, M. and Ceballos, G. (2018). The extinction of the Catarina pupfish Megupsilon aporus and the implications for the conservation of freshwater fish in Mexico. Oryx. doi:10.1017/S003060531800056X.
http://www.fishbase.us/summary/Megupsilon-aporus.html
http://www.dfcstore.org/desertfishes/dfc/proceed/DFC_Vol_X.pdf#page=78