Original description:
- Agassiz, Louis. 1859. "Remarks on new fishes from Lake Nicaragua". Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History. 407-408 (ffm00138)
Described species included (10):
valid: 2 synonym: 8- Heros trimaculatus Günther, 1867 (valid)
- Heros istlanus Jordan & Snyder, 1899 (valid)
- Heros mento Vaillant & Pellegrin, 1902 (synonym)
- Cichlasoma mojarra Meek, 1904 (synonym)
- Cichlasoma tenue Meek, 1906 (synonym)
- Cichlasoma centrale Meek, 1906 (synonym)
- Cichlasoma (Parapetenia) leonhard-schultzei Ahl, 1935 (synonym)
- Cichlasoma gordonsmithi Fowler, 1936 (synonym)
- Cichlasoma istlana fusca de Buen, 1946 (synonym)
- Cichlasoma cajali Alvarez & Gutierrez, 1953 (synonym)
Species groups:
- Citrinellus (Hubbs, 1937)