Cynopoecilini .

Costa (2016a) proposed seven synapomorphies for Cynopoecilini, based on a previous total combined (morphological and mitochondrial) phylogenetic analysis (Costa, 2016b). Five of them already described in Costa (2008a): 1. vomer teeth absent; 2. ventral process of angulo-articular vestigial or absent; 3. posterior process of quadrate wide (Fig. 1d); 4. symplectic elongate (Fig. 1d), 5. supraorbital scales absent (according to Ferrer et al., 2014, reversed in some Cynopoecilus Reagan species); 6. distinctive postero-ventral process on autopalatine; and 7. E-scales not overlapped “(reversed in Cynopoecilus feltrini)”.

Previously proposed synapomorphies for Cynopoecilini (Costa 2008a; Ferrer et al., 2014), changed after the description of a new genus ( Mucurilebias Costa) created by Costa (2014a) to include “ Leptolebias leitaoi (da Cruz & Peixoto) ” in the phylogenetic analysis (Costa, 2016a). The muscular fibers circularly arranged around the base of the urogenital papilla forming an ejaculatory pump became synapomorphies for the sister genera Campellolebias Vaz-Ferreira & Sierra de Soriano and Cynopoecilus; the minute contact organs along margin of flank scales in males became a synapomorphy of the clade composed by Leptolebias Myers, Leptopanchax Costa, Campellolebias and Cynopoecilus . A green iris (blue to yellowish-green in males, in Ferrer et al., 2014) remains the only synapomorphy for Cynopoecilus . A reticulated egg envelope (chorion) with mushroom-like projections and a supraorbital series of neuromasts anteriorly interrupted are synapomorphies of a clade composed by all genera except Mucurilebias . Additional proposed synapomorphies are a short mesopterygoid (Costa, 2008a), dorsal and anal fins twisted in males during courtship behavior and four to seven neuromasts on the caudal-fin base (Ferrer et al., 2014).

The tribe is composed of seven genera distributed in Atlantic coastal drainages of southeastern and south Brazil and eastern Uruguay (Costa, 2016a): Notholebias Costa, with four small-sized species (max. 30 mm SL) from southeastern Brazil; Mucurilebias, monotypic and small-sized (max. 30 mm SL) genus with similar distribution; Leptolebias, with one small-sized species (max. 29 mm SL) with similar distribution; Leptopanchax, a genus created by Costa (2016a) to fix the paraphyly of Leptolebias found in Costa (2016b), composed of five species with similar distribution; Campellolebias, four small-sized species (max. 32 mm SL) with similar distribution and with the development of pseudogonopodium involved in internal fertilization; Cynopoecilus, six small-sized (max. 40 mm SL), distributed in floodplains of the Jacuí river basin and coastal basins of southern Brazil and eastern Uruguay. This genus also presents internal insemination.