''Entomocorus'' is a

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 ...

catfish Catfish (or catfishes; order (biology), order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Catfish are common name, named for their prominent barbel (anatomy), barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, though not ...

es (

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

Siluriformes) of the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Auchenipteridae.

Taxonomy and phylogeny

''Entomocorus'' was first described by

Carl H. Eigenmann Carl Henry Eigenmann (March 9, 1863 – April 24, 1927) was a German-American ichthyology, ichthyologist of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, who, along with his wife Rosa Smith Eigenmann, and his zoology students is credited wit ...

in 1917 with ''E. benjamini'' as

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

monotypy In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...

. Only a few

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical dat ...

diagnoses have been presented since. ''Entomocorus'' is included as the basal member in the ''Auchenipterus''-Group by Carl H. Ferraris; this group also includes '' Auchenipterus'' and the

sister groups In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and t ...

'' Epapterus'' and '' Pseudepapterus''. This group is sister to the ''Ageneiosus''-Group, which includes the genera '' Ageneiosus'' and '' Tetranematichthys''. These groups, along with the genus '' Trachelyopterus'', form the tribe Auchenipterini. However, the placement of ''Entomocorus'' is problematic due to the loss of some characteristics of that diagnose Auchenipteridae and Auchenipterini. Relationships between species of ''Entomocorus'' are unknown.

Species

There are currently four described species in this genus: * '' Entomocorus benjamini'' C. H. Eigenmann, 1917 * '' Entomocorus gameroi'' Mago-Leccia, 1984 * '' Entomocorus melaphareus'' Akama &

Ferraris Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello. Founded in 1939 by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988), the company built Auto Avio Costruzioni 815, its first car in 1940, adopted its current name in 1945, and be ...

, 2003 * '' Entomocorus radiosus'' R. E. dos Reis &

Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo ( ; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator regarded as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known w ...

, 2006

Distribution

''Entomocorus'' species are all found in lowlands east of the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

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 ...

Description

''Entomocorus'' species are small fish, growing to 5.3–7.0 centimetres SL.

Sexual dimorphism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where sexes of the same species exhibit different Morphology (biology), morphological characteristics, including characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most dioecy, di ...

is evident in all species except for ''E. benjamini''; in this species, transformed males have yet to be found. In the other species, transformed males have stiff,

ossified Ossification (also called osteogenesis or bone mineralization) in bone remodeling is the process of laying down new bone material by cells named osteoblasts. It is synonymous with bone tissue formation. There are two processes resulting in t ...

maxillary barbels, an elongated dorsal-fin spine,

ventrally Standard anatomical terms of location are used to describe unambiguously the anatomy of humans and other animals. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position provi ...

-directed pectoral-fin spine hooks, very elongated pelvic-fin unbranched rays, and a rotated anal-fin base. The four different ''Entomocorus'' species are not easily distinguished by differences in

meristics Meristics is an area of zoology and botany which relates to counting quantitative features of animals and plants, such as the number of fins or scales in fish. A meristic (countable trait) can be used to describe a particular species, or used to i ...

morphometrics Morphometrics (from Greek μορΦή ''morphe'', "shape, form", and -μετρία ''metria'', "measurement") or morphometry refers to the quantitative analysis of ''form'', a concept that encompasses size and shape. Morphometric analyses are co ...

; however, they can easily be distinguished by pigmentation, especially in caudal fin markings. In ''E. benjamini'', the distal half of dorsal caudal fin lobe and the edge of the ventral lobe is pigmented. In ''E. gameroi'', an oblique band crossing from the dorsal profile of the

caudal peduncle Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the back bone and are supported only ...

to the middle-upper rays of the caudal fin. In ''E. melaphareus'', an inconspicuous patch exists on the dorsal lobe of the caudal fin. In ''E. radiosus'', the distal half of both the dorsal and ventral caudal fin lobes is pigmented. ''E. melaphareus'' also has pigmented pectoral and pelvic fins, while these fins in the other three species are unpigmented. ''E. radiosus'' is the only species that can be diagnosed by meristics; its anal-fin base is longer and has more branched anal-fin rays.

Ecology

''Entomocorus'' are

nocturnal Nocturnality is a ethology, behavior in some non-human animals characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatur ...

pelagic The pelagic zone consists of the water column of the open ocean and can be further divided into regions by depth. The word ''pelagic'' is derived . The pelagic zone can be thought of as an imaginary cylinder or water column between the sur ...

catfish that feed near the surface on

invertebrate Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordata, chordate s ...

s (primarily

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

s) and on

zooplankton Zooplankton are the heterotrophic component of the planktonic community (the " zoo-" prefix comes from ), having to consume other organisms to thrive. Plankton are aquatic organisms that are unable to swim effectively against currents. Consequent ...

(mainly

micro Micro may refer to: Measurement * micro- (μ), a metric prefix denoting a factor of 10−6 Places * Micro, North Carolina, town in U.S. People * DJ Micro, (born Michael Marsicano) an American trance DJ and producer * Chii Tomiya (都宮 � ...

crustacean Crustaceans (from Latin meaning: "those with shells" or "crusted ones") are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of arthropods that are traditionally a part of the subphylum Crustacea (), a large, diverse group of mainly aquatic arthrop ...

s).

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5380603 Auchenipteridae Catfish of South America Catfish genera Taxa named by Carl H. Eigenmann