''Pterygoplichthys ambrosettii'', sometimes known as the snow king pleco, is a species of armored catfish native to south-central

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 ...

Distribution and habitat

This species is distributed in the Río Plata basin, in the

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

, Middle Paraná, Bermejo, and

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

rivers, in the countries of

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

, the north/northeast of

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, and the west of

. It is a typical species of the Paraná lower freshwater ecoregion.

Invasive tendencies

It was not originally present in the upper Paraná River, but due to flooding of geological barriers ( Sete Quedas waterfalls) the species was able to expand their territory. This was due to the installation of the Itaipu hydroelectric power plant.

Taxonomy

The species was originally described in the year 1893 by the physician, naturalist and writer Argentine Eduardo Ladislao Holmberg, under the scientific term for ''Liposarcus ambrosettii'' using samples caught in the

Paraguay River The Paraguay River (''Ysyry Paraguái'' in Guarani language, Guarani, ''Rio Paraguai'' in Portuguese language, Portuguese, ''Río Paraguay'' in Spanish language, Spanish) is a major river in south-central South America, running through Brazil, Bol ...

, opposite the city of

Formosa Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The island of Taiwan, formerly known to Westerners as Formosa, has an area of and makes up 99% of the land under ROC control. It lies about across the Taiwan Strait f ...

. It is included in the Hypostominae subfamily.

Etymology

Etymologically, the generic name ''Pterygoplichthys'' is constructed with three words of the

Greek language Greek (, ; , ) is an Indo-European languages, Indo-European language, constituting an independent Hellenic languages, Hellenic branch within the Indo-European language family. It is native to Greece, Cyprus, Italy (in Calabria and Salento), south ...

, where: ''pterygion'' is the diminutive of ''pteryx'' that means 'fin', ''hoplon'' is 'weapon', and ''ichthys'' is 'fish'. The specific term ''ambrosettii'' honors the surname of

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

naturalist Juan Bautista Ambrosetti.

Taxonomic history

''Pterygoplichthys anisitsi'' was described in 1903 by the German-American

ichthyologist Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish (Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 35,800 species of fish had been described as of March 2 ...

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 ...

along with Clarence Hamilton Kennedy. These scientists were originally credited more so with its discovery since the description made by Holmberg went unnoticed, so in 1992 C. Webber passed the latter to the category of ''nomen oblitum''. However, the epithet of ''P. ambrosettii'' had been cited as the valid name for this fish by Isaäc Isbrüker in 1980. Other authors began to agree, so in 2007 Carl J. Ferraris Jr. determined that, being the oldest available name, it corresponds to being the senior synonym, becoming ''P. anisitsi'' to be its minor synonym. Ferraris, C. J. (2007). Checklist of catfishes, recent and fossil (Osteichthyes: Siluriformes), and catalogue of siluriform primary types. Zootaxa 1418. Magnolia Press, Auckland, New Zealand.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5499984 Hypostominae Taxa named by Eduardo Ladislao Holmberg Fish described in 1893 Fish of Paraguay Fish of Bolivia Fish of Argentina Fish of Uruguay