Macquaria

Macquaria is a genus of medium-sized, predatory temperate perches endemic to Australia. They are found in rivers of the eastern part of the continent.^[3]

Macquaria Temporal range: Miocene–present PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Golden perch, M. ambigua
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Centrarchiformes
Family:	Percichthyidae
Genus:	Macquaria G. Cuvier, 1830
Type species
Macquaria australasica G. Cuvier, 1830[1]
Synonyms[2]
Paschalestes Gistel, 1848 Plectroplites T. N. Gill, 1862 Ctenolates Günther, 1871 Murrayia Castelnau, 1872 Riverina Castelnau, 1872

Species

The currently recognized species in this genus are:^[3][4]

• Macquaria ambigua (J. Richardson, 1845), commonly known as golden perch or "yellowbelly"
• Macquaria australasica (G. Cuvier, 1830), commonly known as Macquarie perch

One fossil species is known in †Macquaria avus (Woodward, 1902) (=Ctenolates avus Woodward, 1902) from Miocene-aged freshwater deposits near Nimbin.^[5][6][7] Many fossil remains assigned to this genus are known from the Eocene to the Miocene of Australia. However, it is uncertain whether they belong to this genus or to Percalates (formerly subsumed within it).^[7]

Taxonomy

Previously, the two catadromous species Macquaria colonorum and M. novemaculeata were also placed in this genus. However, more recent phylogenetic studies have found they are not closely related to the two other species of the genus, and they are now placed in the genus Percalates in the monotypic family Percalatidae.^[8][9] These authors also found that the Percichthyidae and the Percalatidae were part of one of three cladea within a new order, the Centrarchiformes in the Percomorpha.^[10]