''Brochiloricaria'' is a small

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of armored catfishes native to

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

Species

There are currently two recognized species in this genus: * '' Brochiloricaria chauliodon'' Isbrücker, 1979 * '' Brochiloricaria macrodon'' ( Kner, 1853)

Appearance and anatomy

''Brochiloricaria'' is morphologically very similar to '' Loricaria'' and can be distinguished from the latter only by its teeth characteristics; in ''Brochiloricaria'', the teeth are very long and of equal size on both jaws, while in ''Loricaria'' the

premaxilla The premaxilla (or praemaxilla) is one of a pair of small cranial bones at the very tip of the upper jaw of many animals, usually, but not always, bearing teeth. In humans, they are fused with the maxilla. The "premaxilla" of therian mammals h ...

ry teeth are almost two times longer than

dentary In jawed vertebrates, the mandible (from the Latin ''mandibula'', 'for chewing'), lower jaw, or jawbone is a bone that makes up the lowerand typically more mobilecomponent of the mouth (the upper jaw being known as the maxilla). The jawbone ...

teeth. However, dentition may not be a reliable characteristic to differentiate to genera, so Brochiloricaria may actually be a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

of ''Loricaria''. Both species of ''Brochiloricaria'' reach almost 30 centimetres (12 in) in length.

Ecology

''Brochiloricaria'' is an abdomino-lip brooder.

References

Loricariini Catfish of South America Catfish genera Taxa named by Isaäc J. H. Isbrücker Taxa named by Han Nijssen Freshwater fish genera {{Loricariinae-stub