Pseudobunocephalus
John P. Friel
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close boxIntroduction
This new genus is widespread in the Orinoco, Amazon and Paraguay-Paraná basins. Specimens of Pseudobunocephalus may be mistaken at first glance as juveniles of Bunocephalus and are often in mixed lots with larger Bunocephalus specimens.
Characteristics
Diagnosis
A genus of relatively small banjo catfishes (up to 80 mm SL) distinguished from other aspredinids by the following characters: dentary teeth restricted to a broad tooth patch near symphysis of lower jaw; metapterygoid does not contact quadrate; posterior end of palatine forked; fourth pharyngobranchial absent; gill rakers absent on all gill arches; and parapophysis of fifth vertebrae oriented anteriorly. Characters not unique but useful for identification include: jaws equal, mouth terminal; lateral line truncated at approximately the level of the dorsal fin origin; dorsal- and ventral-most principal caudal rays much shorter than others and dorsal- and anal-fin membranes not adnate with body.
References
Boulenger, G. A. 1891. An account of the siluroid fishes obtained by Dr. H. von Ihering and Herr Sebastian Wolff in the Providence Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, April 7, 1891, 231-235.
Eigenmann, C. H., & Kennedy, C. H. 1903. On a collection of fishes from Paraguay, with a synopsis of the American genera of cichlids. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 55(2): 497-537.
Eigenmann, C. H., & Allen, W. R. 1942. Fishes of Western South America. The University of Kentucky, XV + 494 pp.
Friel, J. 1994. A phylogenetic study of the Neotropical banjo catfishes (Teleostei: Siluriformes: Aspredinidae) Ph.D. thesis, Duke University, Durham, NC, 256 pp.
Friel, J. P. 2008. Pseudobunocephalus, a new genus of banjo catfish with the description of a new species from the Orinoco River system of Colombia and Venezuela (Siluriformes: Aspredinidae). Neotropical Ichthyology, 6(3):293-300.
Mees, G. F. 1989. Notes on the genus Dysichthys, subfamily Bunocephalinae, family Aspredinidae (Pisces, Nematognathi). Proceedings of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, 92(2): 189-250.
Title Illustrations
| Scientific Name | Pseudobunocephalus lundbergi |
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| Image Use |
 This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License - Version 3.0.
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| Copyright |
© 1995 John P. Friel
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About This Page
John P. Friel
Cornell University Museum of Vertebrates, Ithaca, New York, USA
Page copyright © 2009 John P. Friel
Page: Tree of Life
Pseudobunocephalus .
Authored by
John P. Friel.
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- First online 05 July 1995
- Content changed 02 March 2009
Citing this page:
Friel, John P. 2009. Pseudobunocephalus . Version 02 March 2009 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Pseudobunocephalus/15252/2009.03.02 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/
