Trichomycterus

Aline R. Alencar & Wilson J. E. M. Costa, 2004, Description of two new species of the catfish genus Trichomycterus from southeastern Brazil (Siluriformes: Trichomycteridae)., Zootaxa 744, pp. 1-8 : 2

[[ Genus Trichomycterus ]]

Trichomycterus Valenciennes is a specious assemblage of catfishes inhabiting mountain rivers of South America and southern Central America, each species usually endemic to a single river basin (Eigenmann, 1918). About 60 nominal species are endemic to the river basins draining the Andes and hills of the Guianan Shield, and about 30 species are endemic to river basins draining the Brazilian Shield. However, it is not known if the whole genus Trichomycterus is a monophyletic lineage, or even if species of each region form a clade.

Trichomycterus is still poorly known in the Brazilian Shield river basins, with many undescribed species. Most described species of this region are endemic to the Rio Paraíba do Sul basin (Costa, 1982), but many areas are still insufficiently sampled. For example, only one species, Trichomycterus longibarbatus Costa , is known to occur in the vast area occupied by numerous isolated river basins between the Rio Paraíba do Sul and Rio Doce basins, southeastern Brazil. However, recent collections in this area revealed several new species of Trichomycterus , of which two species exhibiting very distinctive color patterns are herein described.