RHINELEPINI, Armbruster, 2004

Armbruster, Jonathan W., 2004, Phylogenetic relationships of the suckermouth armoured catfishes (Loricariidae) with emphasis on the Hypostominae and the Ancistrinae, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 141 (1), pp. 1-80 : 61-62

RHINELEPINI NEW TRIBE

Includes:

Canthopomus Eigenmann, 1910 (synonym of Pseudorinelepis )

Monistiancistrus Fowler, 1939 (synonym of Pseudorinelepis )

Pogonopoma Regan, 1904

Pogonopomoides Gosline, 1947 (synonym of Pogonopoma )

Pseudorinelepis Bleeker, 1862

Rhinelepis Valenciennes, 1829

Diagnosis: The Rhinelepini is diagnosed by two unique characteristics: an upper pharyngeal tooth plate with a lateral shelf (31: 1) and a large, U-shaped, two-part diverticulum of the digestive tract (211: 1-3). Other characteristics considered synapomorphic for the Rhinelepini are: loss of the second basibranchial (3: 2), interhyal not contacting the cartilaginous section between the hyomandibula and quadrate (26: 0), a long ventromesial process of the palatine (59: 1), a very large, almost square nasal (105: 2), a flattened and widened parasphenoid (106: 1), a loss of ribs behind the enlarged rib of the sixth vertebral centrum (129: 1), at least a partial exposure of the coracoid strut (162: 0), circular (vs. bilobed) pupils, and a straight oesophagus to which the intestine does not pass dorsally (210: 1). See description and diagnosis of the Rhinelepini in Armbruster (1998b) and Quevedo & Reis (2002).

Comparisons: The Rhinelepini can be distinguished from Corymbophanes by the lack of a postdorsal ridge of three or more median preadipose plates, and by having five (vs. three) rows of plates on the caudal peduncle, from the Hypostomini and the Pterygoplichthini by having one unbranched and five branched anal-fin rays (vs. one unbranched and four branched rays) and by lacking the dorsal flap of the iris, and from the Ancistrini and the Pterygoplichthini by lacking highly evertible cheek plates.