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Hudson Crizanto Gonçalves (3)

Description: Dorsal spines (total): 1; Dorsal soft rays (total): 8. Abstract: During a recent ichthyological survey in Chapada Diamantina, Estado da Bahia, Brazil, a new, very distinctive Aspidoras was discovered in tributaries of the upper rio Paraguaçu. The new taxon differs from its congeners mainly in having: a poorly-developed pigmentation pattern, restricted to minute scattered blotches on dorsal region of head and body, but grouped in small, irregular blotches along the lateral body plate junction; four or five caudal vertebra, anterior to compound caudal centrum, with neural and haemal spines placed posteriorly, close to post-zygapophyses; and post-zygapophyses of the precaudal vertebrae without dorsal expansions connected with their respective neural spines. The new species shares with Aspidoras velites dorsolateral body plates not touching their counterparts dorsally, and infraorbital bones with reduced flanges that are restricted to the latero-sensory canal. Both of these are considered reductive character states, probably indicating a paedomorphic condition to both species. The new species is also compared to Aspidoras maculosus, a congener which bears the most similar colour pattern and is geographically closest to the new species (Britto et al 2005). Habitat: Found in river with sandy and rocky bottom and little amount of riparian and submerged vegetation. Lineage: All Aspidoras belong to Lineage 2 with the exception of A. pauciradiatus which will prove to be a Corydoras and if a revision is carried out will be Gastrodermus (Cope, 1878) and a member of Lineage 5 alongside members of the "elegans group". Aquarium Care: Inoffensive catfish which will suffer at the hands of aggressive tank mates. Will do well in a species tank or a community tank with smaller inmates such as tetras and rasboras. Best to keep in a shoal of at least four. Diet: Prefer live foods such as newly hatched brine shrimp but will also take frozen food and good quality flake, plus tablet food. Etymology: Named after "Psammatos psammatides", the sand sorcerer, a characer of the J.R.R. Tolkien's book "Roverandom", from the Greek psammos, meaning sand, and ides, meaning son of. In allusion to the sand-dwelling behavior of the species. Remarks: This species is very rare in the hobby.

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Callichthyidae

South America: Rio Paraguaçu basin in Brazil. Type locality: Brazil, Estado da Bahia.

3.0cm (1¼ins)

22-25°C (71-77°F)

6.0-7.0.

Alexandrou, Markos & Taylor, Martin. (2011). Evolution, ecology and taxonomy of the Corydoradinae revisited.
Britto, Marcelo R., Lima, Flávio C. T. and Santos, Alexandre C. A. A new Aspidoras (Siluriformes: Callichthyidae) from rio Paraguaçu basin, Chapada Diamantina, Bahia, Brazil. Neotropical Ichthyology
Ian A. M. Fuller & Hans-Georg Evers (2011). Identifying Corydoradinae Catfish Supplement 1. Ian Fuller Enterprises.