Drainage basin checklists and dichotomous keys for inland fishes of Texas.

Cody Andrew Craig,Timothy Hallman Bonner

doi:10.3897/zookeys.874.35618

Abstract

Species checklists and dichotomous keys are valuable tools that provide many services for ecological studies and management through tracking native and non-native species through time. We developed nine drainage basin checklists and dichotomous keys for 196 inland fishes of Texas, consisting of 171 native fishes and 25 non-native fishes. Our checklists were updated from previous checklists and revised using reports of new established native and non-native fishes in Texas, reports of new fish occurrences among drainages, and changes in species taxonomic nomenclature. We provided the first dichotomous keys for major drainage basins in Texas. Among the 171 native inland fishes, 6 species are considered extinct or extirpated, 13 species are listed as threatened or endangered by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and 59 species are listed as Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) by the state of Texas. Red River drainage basin was the most speciose with 120 fishes. Rio Grande & Pecos drainage basin had the greatest number of threatened or endangered fishes (N = 7) and the greatest number of SGCN fishes (N = 28). We revised drainage basin occurrences for 77 species. Drainage basin checklists and dichotomous keys provide finer resolution of species distributions within the geopolitical boundaries of Texas and can reduce probability of errors in fish identification errors by removing species not occurring within a natural boundary.

Highlights

Species checklists consolidate biodiversity records using standardized taxonomic nomenclature and updated species occurrences within pre-defined boundaries (Fleishman et al 2006; Martellos and Nimis 2015)
Dichotomous keys were developed for nine drainage basins (Suppl. material 1)
Our checklist included three fishes reported in Texas after 2008: native Ameiurus nebulosus (Craig et al 2015), non-native Xiphophorus variatus (Cohen et al 2014), and non-native Hypophthalmichthys nobilis

Summary

Introduction

Species checklists consolidate biodiversity records using standardized taxonomic nomenclature and updated species occurrences within pre-defined boundaries (Fleishman et al 2006; Martellos and Nimis 2015). Jurgens and Hubbs (1953) were the first to publish a checklist using standardized taxonomic nomenclature provided by American Fisheries Society Committee on Names of Fishes (Chute et al 1948). A revised checklist was published by Baughman (1950a, 1950b), using standardized taxonomic nomenclature provided by Jordan et al (1930). This checklist was periodically revised by Hubbs (i.e., Hubbs 1957, 1958, 1961, 1972, 1976, 1982). Fishes are rarely homogenously distributed among all drainage basins, with 41% of fishes restricted to one or two drainage basins (Conner and Suttkus 1986; Hubbs et al 2008)

Materials and methods

Results and discussion

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