the type species of the genus is "micropoecilia parae" but this is not included within the genus by fishbase but other workers have recovered this species within the subgenus "micropoecilia" of "poecilia", arguing that "micropoecilia", alongside the subgenera "acanthophacelus", "limia", "pamphorichthys" and "mollienesia" should all be retained as subgenera of "poecilia", which is remains a monopyletic clade in this classification. this is partly to ensure the conserving of the guppy ("poecilia reticulata") as a species within the genus due to its familiarity as a study organism.