Petitella

The genus Petitlela was described in 1964 by Géry and Boutière. The genus name consists of two parts. -ella comes from Latin and is a diminutive meaning ‘affectionate’. Petit is in honor of the French zoologist Georges Petit (1892 – 1973). He was the Director du Laboratoire Arago (Observatoire océanologique de Banyuls-sur-Mer, France).

Initially the genus was monotypic and only Petitella georgiae belonged to this genus. In 2020, the similar species Petitella bleheri and Petitella rhodostoma were added based on DNA research.

Reference:
Bittencourt PS, Machado VN, Marshall BG, Hrbek T, Farias IPF. Phylogenetic relationships of the neon tetras Paracheirodon spp. (Characiformes: Characidae: Stethaprioninae), including comments on Petitella georgiae and Hemigrammus bleheri. Neotrop Ichthyol. 2020; 18(2):e190109. https://doi.org/10.1590/1982-0224-2019-0109