''Parotocinclus'' 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 ...

fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

in 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 ...

Loricariidae Loricariidae is the largest family (biology), family of catfish (order Siluriformes), with over 90 genus, genera and just over 680 species. Loricariids originate from freshwater habitats of Costa Rica, Panama, and tropical and subtropical South A ...

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 ...

. This genus is

distributed Distribution may refer to: Mathematics *Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations *Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a varia ...

through almost all hydrographic systems in South America from the

Guyana Shield The Guiana Shield (; ; ; ) is one of the three cratons of the South American Plate. It is a 1.7 billion-year-old Precambrian geological formation in northeast South America that forms a portion of the northern coast. The higher elevations on t ...

drainages and Amazon Shield

tributaries A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream ('' main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which the ...

to the coastal

drainage Drainage is the natural or artificial removal of a surface's water and sub-surface water from an area with excess water. The internal drainage of most agricultural soils can prevent severe waterlogging (anaerobic conditions that harm root gro ...

s of eastern and southeastern

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, including the

rio São Francisco Rio or Río is the Portuguese and Spanish word for "river". The word also exists in Italian, but is largely obsolete and used in a poetical or literary context to mean "stream". Rio, RIO or Río may also refer to: Places United States * Rio, Fl ...

basin. Most

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

have 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 ...

oval in

cross section Cross section may refer to: * Cross section (geometry) ** Cross-sectional views in architecture and engineering 3D *Cross section (geology) * Cross section (electronics) * Radar cross section, measure of detectability * Cross section (physics) **A ...

.Garavello, J.C. & Britski, H.A. (2003)
''Parotocinclus planicauda'', a new species of the subfamily Hypoptopomatinae from Southeastern Brazil (Ostariophysi: Loricariidae).
''Brazilian Journal of Biology, 63 (2): 253–260.'' It has been found that '' Characidium'' species may interact with ''P. maculicauda''. The small ''Characidium'' will follow grazing ''P. maculicauda'', which release particulate matter dislodged from the catfish's foraging.Leitão, R.P., Caramaschi, É.P. & Zuanon, J. (2007)
Following food clouds: feeding association between a minute loricariid and a characidiin species in an Atlantic Forest stream, Southeastern Brazil.
''Neotropical Ichthyology, 5 (3): 307-310.''

Taxonomy

By an analysis published in 2005, ''Parotocinclus'' is not a

monophyletic In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria: # the grouping contains its own most recent co ...

genus. ''P. jumbo'' is not closely related to ''P. maculicauda'', but is positioned, instead, as a basal lineage of the

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

Hypoptopomatinae The Hypoptopomatinae are a subfamily of catfishes (order Siluriformes) of the family Loricariidae, composed of 17 genera and approximately 80 species. This subfamily represents about one-tenth of all loricariid species. It has been divided into ...

. Additionally, ''P. collinsae'' is not closely related to ''Parotocinclus maculicauda'' and may be more closely related to the genus '' Hypoptopoma'' and four other genera. ''P. jumbo'' and ''P. collinsae'' may eventually be transferred to new genera. ''P. bidentatus'' and ''P. muriaensis'' form a monophyletic pair of

sister taxa 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 ...

that is more closely related to a subset of species of ''Parotocinclus'' (which includes ''P. maculicauda'') than to any other genus of the

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

Otothyrini.Gauger, M.F.W. & Buckup, P.A. (2005)
Two new species of Hypoptopomatinae from the rio Paraíba do Sul basin, with comments on the monophyly of ''Parotocinclus'' and the Otothyrini (Siluriformes: Loricariidae).
''Neotropical Ichthyology, 3 (4): 509–518.''

Species

There are currently 38 recognized species in this genus: * '' Parotocinclus adamanteus'' *'' Parotocinclus amazonensis'' Garavello, 1977 * '' Parotocinclus arandai'' Sarmento-Soares, Lehmann A. & Martins-Pinheiro, 2009 * '' Parotocinclus aripuanensis'' Garavello, 1988 * '' Parotocinclus bahiensis'' ( A. Miranda-Ribeiro, 1918) * '' Parotocinclus bidentatus'' Gauger & Buckup, 2005 * '' Parotocinclus britskii'' Boeseman, 1974 * '' Parotocinclus cabessadecuia'' * '' Parotocinclus cearensis'' Garavello, 1977 * '' Parotocinclus cesarpintoi'' P. Miranda-Ribeiro, 1939 * '' Parotocinclus collinsae''

Schmidt Schmidt may refer to: * Schmidt (surname), including list of people and fictional characters with the surname * Schmidt (singer) (born 1990), German pop and jazz singer * Schmidt (lunar crater), a small lunar impact crater * Schmidt (Martian c ...

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 ...

, 1985 * '' Parotocinclus cristatus'' Garavello, 1977 * '' Parotocinclus dani'' Roxo, G. S. C. Silva & C. de Oliveira, 2016 Roxo, F.F., Silva, G.S.C. & Oliveira, C. (2016)
Description of a new species of ''Parotocinclus'' (Siluriformes, Hypoptopomatinae) from the rio Tapajós basin.
''ZooKeys, 634: 125–136.'' * '' Parotocinclus doceanus'' ( A. Miranda-Ribeiro, 1918) * '' Parotocinclus eppleyi''

Schaefer Schaefer is an alternative spelling and cognate for the German word ''schäfer'', meaning 'shepherd', which itself descends from the Old High German '' scāphare''. Variants "Shaefer", "Schäfer" (a standardized spelling in many German-speaking ...

Steindachner Franz Steindachner (11 November 1834 in Vienna – 10 December 1919 in Vienna) was an Austrian zoologist, ichthyologist, and herpetologist. He published over 200 papers on fishes and over 50 papers on reptiles and amphibians. Steindachner descri ...

, 1877) * '' Parotocinclus minutus'' Garavello, 1977 * '' Parotocinclus muriaensis'' Gauger & Buckup, 2005 *'' Parotocinclus nandae'' * '' Parotocinclus planicauda'' Garavello & Britski, 2003 * '' Parotocinclus polyochrus''

, 1988 * '' Parotocinclus prata'' A. C. Ribeiro, A. L. A. Melo & E. H. L. Pereira, 2002 * '' Parotocinclus pukuixe'' Dario E. Silva-Junior and Angela M. Zanata. 2022 * '' Parotocinclus robustus'' Lehmann A. & R. E. dos Reis, 2012 Lehmann A., P. & Reis, R.E. (2012)
A new species of ''Parotocinclus'' (Siluriformes: Loricariidae) from the upper Rio São Francisco, Brazil.
''Zootaxa, 3390: 56–64.'' * ''

Parotocinclus seridoensis ''Parotocinclus seridoensis'' is a species of catfish in the family Loricariidae. It is native to South America, where it occurs in the upper basin of the Piranhas River in Brazil. The specific epithet of this species, ''seridoensis'', refers ...

'' T. P. A. Ramos, Barros-Neto, Britski & S. M. Q. Lima, 2013 Ramos, T.P.A., Barros-Neto, L.F., Britski, H.A. & Lima, S.M.Q. (2013)
''Parotocinclus seridoensis'', a new hypoptopomatine catfish (Siluriformes: Loricariidae) from the upper rio Piranhas-Açu basin, northeastern Brazil.
''Neotropical Ichthyology, 11 (4): 787–796.'' * '' Parotocinclus spilosoma'' ( Fowler, 1941) * '' Parotocinclus spilurus'' ( Fowler, 1941) Ramos, T.P.A., Lehmann A., P., Barros-Neto, L.F. & Lima, S.M.Q. (2016)
Redescription of the endangered hypoptopomatine catfish ''Parotocinclus spilurus'' (Fowler, 1941) (Siluriformes: Loricariidae) from the upper rio Jaguaribe basin, northeastern Brazil.
''Neotropical Ichthyology, 14 (1): e150098.'' * '' Parotocinclus variola'' Lehmann A., Schvambach & R. E. dos Reis, 2015 Lehmann A., P., Schvambach, L.J. & Reis, R.E. (2015)
A new species of the armored catfish ''Parotocinclus'' (Loricariidae: Hypoptopomatinae), from the Amazon basin in Colombia.
''Neotropical Ichthyology, 13 (1): 47–52.'' * '' Parotocinclus yaka'' Lehmann, Lima & Reis, 2018Lehmann A, P., Lima, F., & Reis, R. E. (2018). Parotocinclus yaka, a new species of armored catfish (Loricariidae: Hypoptopomatinae), from the Amazon basin in Brazil. ''Zootaxa'', ''4521''(4), 584–592.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2706056 Fish of South America Freshwater fish genera Otothyrinae Taxa named by Carl H. Eigenmann Taxa named by Rosa Smith Eigenmann Catfish genera