Leucos

For the island in the Black Sea, see Snake Island (Black Sea).

Leucos is a genus of fishes in the family Leuciscidae, from Southern Europe. They are a taxon which is closely related to the genus Rutilus, and were only recently taxonomically distinguished from that genus.^[1]

Leucos
Leucos aula
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Cypriniformes
Family:	Leuciscidae
Subfamily:	Leuciscinae
Genus:	Leucos Heckel, 1843
Type species
Squalius aula Bonaparte, 1841

Molecular data suggest that Leucos diverged from Rutilus more than five million years ago, probably during the Messinian salinity crisis. The species of Leucos are typically of small size and they all live in still waters. They differ from Rutilus by the lack of spinous tubercles on scales and head in reproductive males, and also in the pharyngeal teeth formula.^[1] The sister group to Leucos is the monotypic Sarmarutilus.^[1]

Species

There are currently five recognized species in the genus:^[2][3]

• Leucos albus Marić, 2010 (White roach)
• Leucos aula Bonaparte, 1841 (North Italian roach)
• Leucos basak Heckel, 1843 (Albanian roach)
• Leucos panosi Bogutskaya & Iliadou, 2006 (Acheloos roach)
• Leucos ylikiensis Economidis, 1991 (Yliki roach)