Pythonichthys [SEP] parent taxon
Pythonichthys
Pythonichthys is a genus of eels of the family Heterenchelyidae that occur in tropical waters of the eastern Pacific Ocean off of Panama and in the Atlantic Ocean near the Caribbean Sea and the west coast of Africa. It contains the following described species:
- "Pythonichthys asodes" (Pacific mud eel)
- "Pythonichthys macrurus" (Long-tailed short-faced eel)
- "Pythonichthys microphthalmus" (Short-tailed short-faced eel)
- "Pythonichthys sanguineus" (no common name)
Taxon in disguise
In bacteriology, a taxon in disguise is a species, genus or higher unit of biological classification whose evolutionary history reveals has evolved from another unit of similar or lower rank, making the parent unit paraphyletic. This happens when rapid evolution makes a new species appear radically different from the ancestral group, so that it is not (initially) recognised as belonging to the parent phylogenetic group, leaving the latter an evolutionary grade.
While the term is from bacteriology, parallel examples are found throughout the tree of