Lepomis
Lepomis is a genus of freshwater fish in the sunfish family, Centrarchidae, in the order Perciformes. Perhaps the most recognizable species of this genus is the bluegill. Some "Lepomis" species can grow to a maximum overall length of , though most average around . They are widely distributed throughout the lakes and rivers of the United States and Canada, and several species have been transplanted and flourished around the world, even becoming pests. Trade in some "Lepomis" species is prohibited in Germany for this reason. Many are sought by anglers as panfish, and large numbers are bred to stock lakes, rivers , and tributaries. "Lepomis" species, among others, are sometimes referred to as bream, but the term is also used to refer explicitly to the unrelated European cypriniform fish of genus "Abramis". The generic name "Lepomis" derives from the Greek λεπίς (scale) and πῶμα (cover, plug, operculum). Phylogeny. Phylogeny of all "Lepomis" species based on a partitioned mixed-model Bayesian analysis of a seven gene dataset of mitochondrial and nuclear gene DNA sequences by Near et al. (2005), expanded with fossil species. Subgenera in bold follow Bailey (1938): Evolutionary history. Phylogenetic reconstructions using a combination of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequences calibrated  with fossils to estimate ages of divergences suggests that the genus "Lepomis" diverged from the black bass in genus "Micropterus", its sister taxon, about 25 million years ago. The deepest split among currently living species of "Lepomis" is dated to ~15 million years ago and separates genus "Lepomis" into two clades: clade I that leads to the modern bluegill, orange-spotted, green, and warmouth sunfish, and a clade II that includes the modern long-ear, red-breasted, pumpkinseed, redear, and red-spotted sunfish (see section 'Phylogeny' above). The timing of this speciation event roughly corresponds with the Middle Miocene disruption  that resulted in increased aridity on the plains of North America and a transition from savannah to grasslands, although the relevance of these environmental changes to the evolution of "Lepomis" is unclear. Fossil record. No fossils unambiguously assigned to genus "Lepomis" are currently known from the putative stem-lineage that must have existed between 25-15 million years ago, spanning most of the early Miocene. Currently, four extinct species of "Lepomis" are known from the fossil record: There are at least two as yet undescribed fossil species of "Lepomis" that reach back to the middle Miocene: Two other more recent  fossil species appear to be closely allied to "Lepomis gulosus", and indeed their earliest occurrence may be close to the divergence of the lineage leading to the modern warmouth from other species of "Lepomis": Species. There are currently 13 recognized species in this genus: There are also 22 recognized hybrids: