Tilapiinae

Tilapiine cichlids

Zebra tilapia (Heterotilapia buttikoferi) in an aquarium
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Perciformes
Family:	Cichlidae
Subfamily:	Pseudocrenilabrinae
Tribe:	Tilapiini
Genera
Alcolapia Danakilia Iranocichla Oreochromis Pterochromis Sarotherodon Stomatepia Tilapia Tristramella
Synonyms
Tilapiinae

Tilapiinae

The Tilapiini are a tribe within the family Cichlidae commonly known as tilapiine cichlids. Most of the taxa herein are called "tilapias", a diverse and economically important group containing the genera Oreochromis, Sarotherodon, and Tilapia. A number of smaller genera, such as Alcolapia, Danakilia, Iranocichla, and are also placed herein. They are now placed in the subfamily Pseudocrenilabrinae of African and Middle Eastern cichlids; formerly, these were often regarded as a distinct subfamily Tilapiinae.

The tilapiines were recognised by the ichthyologist Ethylwynn Trewavas. [1]

Recent DNA sequence analyses, however, suggest that the Tilapiini as presently delimited are not monophyletic. mtDNA studies found that Tilapia, in which formerly all tilapias were united, still seems to constitute a paraphyletic assemblage, composed of a basal grade, T. bemini which seems closer to haplochromines, and a group containing for example T. buttikoferi and T. ruweti of presently unresolved relationships. The first group, as well as Iranocichla, Oreochromis, Sarotherodon and Tristramella, are fairly close to tribes such as the Lamprologini and Tropheini. Unfortunately, the type species of Tilapia (and hence, the tilapiines) does not seem to be among them.