History

The subgenus Owiyeye, Type species: Rivulus amanapira, was erected by Costa in 2006 in an long paper in which he also gave birth to 2 other new subgenera: i.e. Melanorivulus n. sp. and Benirivulus n. sp..

Owiyeye is diagnosed by the absence of dermosphenotic (which is a small bone-structure in the scull just behind the eye), a derived pattern of frontal squamation, and a color pattern of the mandibular region, and includes species from the Amazonas and Orinoco river basins;

Other species in this subgenus, as seen by Costa at the time of its erection, are: Rivulus altivelis Huber, 1992, R. amanapira Costa, 2004, R. kirovskyi Costa, 2004, R. rectocaudatus Fels & de Rham, 1981, R. romeri Costa, 2003, R. tecminae Thomerson, Nico & Taphorn, 1992, R. uakti Costa, 2004 and R. uatuman Costa, 2004.

Costa, 2011, Redefinition of Owiyeye, (still unstable) and synonymized into Laimosemion, not followed herein because of unstable diagnoses.

Huber, 2012, Conservatively maintained Owiyeye as a subgenus. (but heterogeneous in a large sense).

In the present Owiyeye has only 6 members which are R. altivelis, R. amanapira, R. rectocaudatus, R. staecki, R. tomasi and R. tecminae.

R. kirovsky R. uatuman and R. uakti, all very small species found finally a place in the subgenus Laimosemion.

Literature:

Costa, W.J.E.M. 2006. Relationships and Taxonomy of the killifish genus Rivulus (Cyprinodontiformes: Aplocheiloidei: Rivulidae) from the Brazilian Amazonas river basin, with Notes on historical Ecology. Aqua, Journal of Ichthyology and Aquatic Biology, 11 (4): 157.

Costa, W.J.E.M., 2011. Phylogenetic position and taxonomic status of Anablepsoides, Atlantirivulus, Cynodonichthys, Laimosemion and Melanorivulus (Cyprinodontiformes: Rivulidae). *Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters* 22 (3): 233-249.

Huber, J.H. 2012b. Reappraisal of the Phylogeny of Rivulus and its Allied focused on External Characters. Killi-Data Series 2012, 9-25, 3 figs., 2 tabs.

Despite the unstable character of Owiyeye as a subgenus we prefer to keep it in this site.