New species of Spatuloricaria

[lfinley58]

Ilana Fichberg, Osvaldo Takeshi Oyakawa, and Mário de Pinna (2014) The End of an Almost 70-Year Wait: A New Species of Spatuloricaria (Siluriformes: Loricariidae) from the Rio Xingu and Rio Tapajós Basins. Copeia: June 2014, Vol. 2014, No. 2, pp. 317-324.

The genus Spatuloricaria is diagnosed by a number of conspicuous characteristics that set it apart from other genera in the subfamily Loricariinae. The genus has a broad geographical distribution extending from Argentina to Panama. Despite the flood of new loricariid taxa described in the past decades, no new species of Spatuloricaria have been newly reported since 1945. In this paper, we report on a distinctive new species of the genus from the Rio Xingu and Rio Tapajós in the Amazon basin. The new species is distinguished from congeners by the lack of abdominal and preanal plates, in combination with the presence of five transversal dark-brown bands on the dorsum. It apparently is the only species in Spatuloricaria where males are smaller than females, a situation opposite of that in other species of the genus.

The name of the new species is Spatuloricaria tuira. The etymology of the species name "...honors a Brazilian Indian woman from Mebengokre/Kaiapo ethnicity who became a symbol of the resistance against construction of hydroelectric dams on the Rio Xingu."

[Jools]

Could I get a copy if possible please? I think this species is already in the cat-elog...

Jools

[lfinley58]

Hi Jools,

The three papers are in your mail box.

As an added note on the topic: This new species is the one that is covered on pages 79 - 80 in the book "Loricariids of the Middle Rio Xingu", 2nd Edition, 2013.

Lee