''Spatuloricaria'' 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 ...

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 ...

and

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

. ''Spatuloricaria'' is in need of revision, as species boundaries and distributions are poorly known. The

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 ...

position of ''Spatuloricaria'' remains uncertain. ''Spatuloricaria'' has been placed at the base of a

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

including representatives of the ''

Loricaria ''Loricaria'' is a genus of armored catfish native to South America. Taxonomy ''Loricaria'' was the first genus of the family Loricariidae described. Thus, it is the nominal genus of the family Loricariidae. Phylogenetic relationships within ' ...

'' and '' Pseudohemiodon'' groups. Its dentition, with few teeth on 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 ...

e, and its abdominal cover consisting of minute disjointed platelets resembles that of some representatives of the ''Loricaria'' group. Conversely, the

papillose This glossary of botanical terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to botany and plants in general. Terms of plant morphology are included here as well as at the more specific Glossary of plant morphology and Glossary ...

surface of the lips and sexually dimorphic features are more characteristic of the ''

Rineloricaria ''Rineloricaria'' (from the Greek, ''rhinos'' meaning ''nose'', and the Latin, ''lorica'' meaning ''cuirass of leather'') is a genus of freshwater tropical catfish (order Siluriformes) belonging to the family Loricariidae. They are commonly calle ...

'' group. This genus is distributed in the northwestern part of the

n subcontinent, in drainages of the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

and

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

Slopes 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 ...

. Several species occur also in the upper Amazon River basin, upper

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 ...

, and

São Francisco River The São Francisco River (, ) is a large Rivers of Brazil, river in Brazil. With a length of , it is the longest river that runs entirely in Brazilian territory, and the fourth longest in South America and overall in Brazil (after the Amazon R ...

basins. Sexual dimorphism includes hypertrophied development of claw-like

odontode Odontodes, or dermal teeth, are hard structures found on the external surfaces of animals or near internal openings. They consist of a soft pulp surrounded by dentine and covered by a mineralized substance such as enamel, a structure similar to t ...

s along the sides of the head and on the pectoral spines in mature males. Ecological data is unavailable and reproductive biology is unknown for ''Spatuloricaria'' species.

Species

There are currently 13 recognized species in this genus: * '' Spatuloricaria atratoensis'' L. P. Schultz, 1944 * '' Spatuloricaria caquetae'' Fowler, 1943 * '' Spatuloricaria curvispina'' Dahl, 1942 * '' Spatuloricaria euacanthagenys'' Isbrücker, 1979 * '' Spatuloricaria evansii'' Boulenger, 1892 * '' Spatuloricaria fimbriata'' C. H. Eigenmann & Vance, 1912 * ''

Spatuloricaria gymnogaster ''Spatuloricaria gymnogaster'' is a species of catfish in the family Loricariidae. It is native to South America, where it occurs in the upper Magdalena River basin in Colombia. FishBase records a maximum standard length Fish measurement is the ...

'' C. H. Eigenmann & Vance, 1912 * '' Spatuloricaria lagoichthys'' L. P. Schultz, 1944 * '' Spatuloricaria nudiventris''

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; ; or ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced ...

, 1840 * '' Spatuloricaria phelpsi'' L. P. Schultz, 1944 * '' Spatuloricaria puganensis'' N. E. Pearson, 1937 * '' Spatuloricaria terracanticum'' Londoño-Burbano, Urbano-Bonilla, Rojas-Molina, Ramírez-Gil & Prada-Pedreros, 2018 * '' Spatuloricaria tuira'' Fichberg, O. T. Oyakawa &

de Pinna De Pinna was a high-end clothier for men and women founded in New York City in 1885, by Alfred De Pinna (1831–1915), a Sephardic Jew born in England. They also sold menswear-inspired clothing for women that was finely tailored. The flagship sto ...

, 2014 (Tuira's whiptail)Fichberg, I., Oyakawa, O.T. & de Pinna, M. (2014): The End of an Almost 70-Year Wait: A New Species of Spatuloricaria (Siluriformes: Loricariidae) from the Rio Xingu and Rio Tapajós Basins. ''Copeia, 2014 (2): 317-324''.

References

Loricariini Fish of South America Fish of the Amazon basin Catfish genera Taxa named by Leonard Peter Schultz Freshwater fish genera {{Paraguay-stub