A new Centromochlus Kner, 1858 (Siluriformes: Auchenipteridae: Centromochlinae) from the transition between Amazon floodplain and Guiana shield, Brazil

ABSTRACT Species of Centromochlus are widely distributed in South America, with records for major basins such as the Amazon and Orinoco, rivers draining the Guiana Shield such as the Essequibo, Courantyne (Corantijn), Coppename, Maroni, and Oyapock, and Brazilian Shield drainages as upper Paraná and São Francisco. In the last four years, three species of Centromochlus have been described, raising the total number of valid species to sixteen. The new species of Centromochlus described herein is diagnosed by having black ground color sharply delimited from a white underside by conspicuous wavy border. The new species is recorded from the Nhamundá, left bank tributary to the lower Amazon that drain from the Brazilian portion of the Guiana Shield. Although apparently similar to some Tatia species (e.g. Tatia musaica , T. carolae and T. melanoleuca ), the new species possess two conditions of the Weberian apparatus otherwise observed only in Centromochlus heckelii and C. existimatus among centromochlin catfishes. The new Centromochlus comprises small catfishes with adults ranging from 48 to 57 mm SL.</jats:p

Photography-based taxonomy is inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences

The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; Nemésio 2009a–b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009; Cianferoni & Bartolozzi 2016; Amorim et al. 2016). This question was again raised in a letter supported by 35 signatories published in the journal Nature (Pape et al. 2016) on 15 September 2016. On 25 September 2016, the following rebuttal (strictly limited to 300 words as per the editorial rules of Nature) was submitted to Nature, which on 18 October 2016 refused to publish it. As we think this problem is a very important one for zoological taxonomy, this text is published here exactly as submitted to Nature, followed by the list of the 493 taxonomists and collection-based researchers who signed it in the short time span from 20 September to 6 October 2016

Phylogeny of the neotropical armored catfishes of the subfamily Loricariinae (Siluriformes: Loricariidae)

Evidence for the monophyly of Loricariinae is presented using phylogenetic analysis (maximum parsimony in PAUP*) of osteological and external morghological characters. The two different analyses used, with the characters unordered and the characters partly ordered, produced the same levels of relationship among the ingroup taxa, displaying similar support (similar values of decay index and bootstrap). The analyses showed differences in the Loricariinae sister group. In the unordered analysis, the sistes group of the Loricariinae is a clade formed by representatives of Hypostominae, Ancistrinae and Hypoptopomatinae. In the ordered analysis, Neoplecostomus came out as the sister group of Loricariinae. Loricariinae is diagnosed by a large set of synapomorphies under both data sets. Loricariinae is subdivided in two large clades, Loricariini Bonaparte, 1831 and Harttiini Boeseman, 1971, which basically comprise the genera originally assigned. Loricariini comprises two subclades here named after already available taxa, Hemiodontichthyina (Isbrucker, 1979) and Planiloricariina (Isbrucker, 1979, 1980), plus the genera Loricaria, Spatuloricaria and the non-monophyletic Rineloricaria. Harttiini comprises two subclades, Farlowellina (Fowler, 1958) and Harttiina (Boeseman, 1971), plus the genus Sturisomatichthys. In Planiloricariina, Crossoloricaria came out non-monophyletic, and Crossoloricaria and Apistoloricaria are synonymized to Rhadinoloricaria, since these taxa are not supported separately, but as a clade. All taxa inside Loricariinae are diagnosed phylogenetically. The phylogenetic results are discussed under the current systematics for the group. Taxa not available for the analyses were tentatively placed within the phylogenetic hypothesis proposed. New systematic accounts are provided. The co-occurrence of extreme sets of apomorphies is discussed. Due to the positive correlation between sex dimorphic traits and monophyletic groups, a hypothesis on origin of dimorphic traits in Loricariinae is inferred

Harttia panara Oyakawa & Fichberg & Py-Daniel 2018, new species

&lt;i&gt;Harttia panara&lt;/i&gt;, new species &lt;p&gt;(Figs. 2, 4, 5, 6; Tables 1, 2)&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt; &lt;i&gt;Harttia&lt;/i&gt; sp. Xingu2&mdash; Covain &lt;i&gt;et al.,&lt;/i&gt; 2016 (reference, distribution, molecular phylogeny).&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt; &lt;b&gt;Holotype.&lt;/b&gt; MZUSP 101392, 105.7 mm SL, Brazil, Par&aacute;, Rio Xingu Basin, Rio Curu&aacute;, tributary of Rio Iriri, above the Cachoeira do Curu&aacute; waterfall, on the bridge at highway Cuiab&aacute;-Santar&eacute;m (BR-163), mun. Novo Progresso, 8&ordm;53'54&quot;S 54&deg;59'20&quot;W, A.L. Netto-Ferreira, J.L. Birindelli, L.M. Sousa &amp; P.H. Hollanda-Carvalho, 22 January 2009.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt; &lt;b&gt;Paratypes.&lt;/b&gt; Brazil, Par&aacute;, Rio Xingu Basin: MZUSP 115484, 1, 73.1 mm SL, INPA-ICT 0 53239, 99.8 mm SL, collected with holotype. MZUSP 97080, 2, 77.8&ndash;102.8 mm, Rio Curu&aacute;, tributary of Rio Iriri, on the bridge at BR- 163, mun. Novo Progresso, 8&ordm;53'54&quot;S 54&deg;59'20&quot;W, J.L. Birindelli, L.M. Sousa, A.L. Netto-Ferreira, M.H. Sabaj, N.K. Lujan, 29 October 2007. MZUSP 97088, 9 (3 c&amp;s), INPA-ICT 0 53241, 2, 72.1&ndash; 8.5 mm SL, Rio Curu&aacute;, tributary of Rio Iriri, in the cofferdam of the Buriti Hydroeletric Power, mun. Novo Progresso, 8&ordm;46'09&quot;S 54&deg;57'02&quot;W, J.L. Birindelli, L.M. Sousa, A.L. Netto-Ferreira, M.H. Sabaj, N.K. Lujan, 21 October 2007. MZUSP 118551, 2, 99.6&ndash;123.3 mm SL, Rio Curu&aacute;, tributary of Rio Iriri at the Cachoeira do Curu&aacute; waterfall, near the village of PCH Curu&aacute; and Churrascaria Cachoeira do Curu&aacute;, between the 40 m falls and the three small falls of approximately 1 to 5 m, mun. Novo Progresso, 8&ring;44&rsquo;9.5&rdquo;S 54&ring;57&rsquo;46.5&rdquo;W, 0 6 August 2015, O.T. Oyakawa, W.M. Ohara &amp; M. Pastana.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt; &lt;b&gt;Diagnosis.&lt;/b&gt; Abdomen completely covered by plates readily discriminates &lt;i&gt;H. panara&lt;/i&gt; from members of the &lt;i&gt;H&lt;/i&gt;.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt; &lt;i&gt;loricariformis&lt;/i&gt; group (naked abdomen) and from members of &lt;i&gt;H. rhombocephala&lt;/i&gt; group (abdomen partially covered). &lt;i&gt;Harttia panara&lt;/i&gt; can be distinguished from &lt;i&gt;H. surinamensis&lt;/i&gt;, &lt;i&gt;H. fowleri&lt;/i&gt;, and &lt;i&gt;H. duriventris&lt;/i&gt; by having the caudal peduncle slightly compressed laterally after confluence of lateral keels &lt;i&gt;vs&lt;/i&gt;. caudal peduncle strongly compressed laterally after confluence of lateral keels. In addition, &lt;i&gt;H. panara&lt;/i&gt; can be distinguished from these species, plus &lt;i&gt;H. dissidens&lt;/i&gt;, by having a smaller orbital diameter, respectively 14.8&ndash;19.0% [16.6%] &lt;i&gt;vs.&lt;/i&gt; 19.2&ndash;23.0% [20.9%] in &lt;i&gt;H. surinamensis&lt;/i&gt;, 20.8&ndash;23.1% [22.0%] in &lt;i&gt;H. fowleri&lt;/i&gt;, 18.1&ndash;25.5% [20.8%] in &lt;i&gt;H. duriventris&lt;/i&gt; and 21.4&ndash; 24.1% [22.5%] in &lt;i&gt;H. dissidens&lt;/i&gt;. Also, the interorbital width discriminates &lt;i&gt;H. panara&lt;/i&gt;, 28.6&ndash;35.2% [31.0%] from &lt;i&gt;H. dissidens&lt;/i&gt;, 23.6&ndash;26.2% [24.8%]. &lt;i&gt;Harttia panara&lt;/i&gt; can be distinguished from &lt;i&gt;H. absaberi&lt;/i&gt; by having two large preanal plates &lt;i&gt;vs.&lt;/i&gt; one pre-anal plate; and by the absence of a specialized chain-like bone structure of second dorsal-fin spine &lt;i&gt;vs.&lt;/i&gt; presence in &lt;i&gt;H. absaberi&lt;/i&gt;. &lt;i&gt;H. panara&lt;/i&gt; can also be distinguished from &lt;i&gt;H. villasboas&lt;/i&gt; by having a smaller head length 22.8&ndash;24.8% [23.4%] &lt;i&gt;vs.&lt;/i&gt; 24.0&ndash;29.9% [26.3%] of SL. Finally, &lt;i&gt;H. panara&lt;/i&gt; can be distinguished from &lt;i&gt;H. villasboas&lt;/i&gt; by having the anterior profile of head roughly triangular in dorsal view &lt;i&gt;vs.&lt;/i&gt; elliptical in dorsal view.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt; &lt;b&gt;Description&lt;/b&gt;. Measurements and counts in the Table 2. Member of &lt;i&gt;H. fowleri&lt;/i&gt; group. Body dorsoventrally depressed and elongated, widest at cleithrum. Dorsal profile of body straight and abruptly ascending from tip of snout to anterior region of orbit, and slightly convex from this point to dorsal-fin origin, and gently descending to end of caudal peduncle. Ventral profile of body straight from tip of snout to caudal fin.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Anterior profile of head moderately triangular in dorsal view. Eye roughly oval, inferior margin of orbit slightly concave. Dorsal flap of iris present. Interorbital flat, parieto-supraoccipital flat or slightly convex. Tip of snout with small, oval and naked area completely circumscribed by rostral plates bearing small odontodes. Lips covered by papillae, more numerous and smaller in lower lip. Posterior border of lower lip not reaching anterior margin of pectoral girdle. Premaxilla with 31&ndash;58 [33] bicuspid teeth, both cusps almost with same size; dentary with 29&ndash;36 [32] teeth, inner cusp slightly longer than outer. Maxillary barbel reaching 50% of de length of lower lips, joined to lip by small flap of tissue; barbel with small papillae. Presence of a conspicuous spherical papilla in the roof of mouth anterior to the oral valve. Infraorbital series with five plates; infraorbital 5 contacting inferior branch of sphenotic. Inferior region of orbit delimited by infraorbitals 3 to 5. Canal plate exposed, roughly triangular.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Abdominal region completely covered by roughly trapezoidal to quadrangular small plates. Plates near gular area contacting canal plate. Plates covering posterior region of abdomen larger than those in gular area. Eight to 11 [10] lateral abdominal plates, rectangular and elongate. Preanal plates two, roughly rectangular and well developed, bordered anteriorly by a line of irregular plates. Five longitudinal series of plates on trunk. Median series with 27&ndash;29 [28] perforated plates. Two weakly developed, parallel and longitudinal odontodes keels coalesced at 19th&ndash;20th plates.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Dorsal fin II,7; its origin on vertical through above pelvic-fin origin. Spinelet, or first spine, half-moon shaped, approximately with same width of base of second dorsal-fin spine. Dorsal-fin spine articulates with second dorsalfin pterygiophore through a condyle on dorsal region of this structure. Tip of last rays of dorsal fin, when adpressed, reaching vertical through of origin of last anal-fin ray. Pectoral fin I,6; tip of pectoral-fin spine and first two branched rays surpassing insertion of pelvic-fin spine. Mature males with dorsal region of pectoral-fin spine covered by well-developed odontodes strongly bent and turned forward. Pelvic fin i,5; tip of pelvic-fin spine reaching insertion of anal-fin spine. Anal fin i,5; tips of first and last basal radials of anal fin lying below hemal spines of vertebrae 14&ndash;18, respectively. Hemal spines of vertebrae 14&ndash;18 bifid; hemal spines of vertebrae 14, 16, and 18 very large. First anal-fin pterygiophore roughly rectangular shaped and not covered by skin. Caudal fin emarginated, i,12,i, with five supracaudal plates on its base; median plate bearing lateral line canal. Two procurrent rays on base of upper and lower caudal-fin rays. Caudal peduncle slightly compressed laterally after confluence of lateral keels.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt; &lt;b&gt;Color in alcohol.&lt;/b&gt; Dorsal region of body light brown, with five transverse inconspicuous dark brown marks, first at origin of dorsal fin, second starting at end of last rays of dorsal fin, followed by third and fourth in middle of caudal peduncle, and fifth at origin of caudal-fin rays. In some specimens, including holotype, anterior and posterior margins of marks more intensely pigmented. Ventral region light brown. All fins with four to five transverse dark brown marks. Base of anal-fin spine with dark brown spot. Base of caudal-fin inner rays with dark bar.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt; &lt;b&gt;Etymology.&lt;/b&gt; The specific name, &lt;i&gt;panara&lt;/i&gt;, is a patronym that honors the Panar&aacute; Indians, also called Krenakore, Kreen-Akore or Krenhakore. They call themselves Panar&aacute;, which means human being or &ldquo;gente&rdquo; or &ldquo;seres humanos&rdquo; in Portuguese. In the beginning of the 20th century, they were considered extinct. In 1950, however, during the Villas Boas Brothers expedition to the Serra do Cachimbo region, the Panar&aacute;s were spotted again. Only in 1969 was a tentative contact of the Panar&aacute;s initiated and, in 1972, Orlando and Claudio Villas Boas established the first contact with them in the region of Serra do Cachimbo. In 1973, when the Cuiab&aacute;-Santar&eacute;m highway (BR- 163) began to be built, crossing through their territory, they were removed to the Parque Ind&iacute;gena do Xingu. Finally, in 1995 they recovered the right to live in part of their original territory in Southern Par&aacute; State. A noun in apposition.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt; &lt;b&gt;Distribution:&lt;/b&gt; &lt;i&gt;Harttia panara&lt;/i&gt; is, so far, only known from above the two great falls of Rio Curu&aacute;, a tributary of Rio Iriri, in the area of Serra do Cachimbo. Collections made bellow the two falls of Rio Curu&aacute; have failed in capture the species, suggesting that the new species mighty be restricted to the portion of the river above the two great falls (Figs. 4, 5).&lt;/p&gt;Published as part of &lt;i&gt;Oyakawa, Osvaldo T., Fichberg, Ilana &amp; Py-Daniel, Lucia Rapp, 2018, Three new species of Harttia (Loricariidae: Loricariinae) from Serra do Cachimbo, Rio Xingu basin, Pará, Northern Brazil, pp. 75-90 in Zootaxa 4387 (1)&lt;/i&gt; on pages 78-81, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4387.1.3, &lt;a href="http://zenodo.org/record/1186551"&gt;http://zenodo.org/record/1186551&lt;/a&gt

A new family of neotropical freshwater fishes from deep fossorial Amazonian habitat, with a reappraisal of morphological characiform phylogeny (Teleostei: Ostariophysi)

Pinna, Mário De, Zuanon, Jansen, Py-Daniel, Lucia Rapp, Petry, Paulo (2018): A new family of neotropical freshwater fishes from deep fossorial Amazonian habitat, with a reappraisal of morphological characiform phylogeny (Teleostei: Ostariophysi). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 182: 76-106, DOI: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlx02

FIGURE 2. Peckoltia compta new species, INPA 6865 in Peckoltia compta, a new species of catfish from the Brazilian Amazon, rio Tapajós basin (Siluriformes: Loricariidae)

FIGURE 2. Peckoltia compta new species, INPA 6865, holotype, 56.6 mm SL in lateral, dorsal and ventral views. Photo by R. R. de Oliveira

A new Centromochlus Kner, 1858 (Siluriformes: Auchenipteridae: Centromochlinae) from the transition between Amazon floodplain and Guiana shield, Brazil

ABSTRACT Species of Centromochlus are widely distributed in South America, with records for major basins such as the Amazon and Orinoco, rivers draining the Guiana Shield such as the Essequibo, Courantyne (Corantijn), Coppename, Maroni, and Oyapock, and Brazilian Shield drainages as upper Paraná and São Francisco. In the last four years, three species of Centromochlus have been described, raising the total number of valid species to sixteen. The new species of Centromochlus described herein is diagnosed by having black ground color sharply delimited from a white underside by conspicuous wavy border. The new species is recorded from the Nhamundá, left bank tributary to the lower Amazon that drain from the Brazilian portion of the Guiana Shield. Although apparently similar to some Tatia species (e.g. Tatia musaica , T. carolae and T. melanoleuca ), the new species possess two conditions of the Weberian apparatus otherwise observed only in Centromochlus heckelii and C. existimatus among centromochlin catfishes. The new Centromochlus comprises small catfishes with adults ranging from 48 to 57 mm SL