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| Spinipterus moijiri
Rocha, Rossoni, Akama & Zuanon, 2020
DOI: 10.1111/jfb.14211
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Abstract
An expedition to the middle Rio Purus basin uncovered a remarkable new species of the genus Spinipterus. The new species has a very distinct and conspicuous colour pattern resembling a jaguar and it is almost four times larger than Spinipterus acsi, a small specimen (32 mm LS) from Caño Santa Rita, a right bank tributary of Río Nanay in Peru and a second specimen was reported from Rio Juruá, Amazonas State, Brazil. Although the new species is more similar in size and colour pattern to Liosomadoras, it shares the synapomorphies for Spinipterus. The new species differs from the congener by the following characters: (a) colour pattern with large black rosette‐like spots over a light yellow to brown background (v. brown background with small dark blotches over the body); (b) adult body size reaching 104.5 mm LS (v. maximum known size 37.1 mm LS); (c) posterior process of cleithrum short, never reaching vertical through the dorsal‐fin origin (v. posterior process long, surpassing vertical through the dorsal‐fin origin); (d) seven soft pectoral‐fin rays (v. six); (e) caudal fin truncated (v. caudal fin rounded).
Keywords: driftwood catfish, neotropical, otorongo woodcat, sexual dimorphism, Spinipterus, spiny jaguar catfish
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| Live specimens of Spinipterus moijiri sp. nov. and Tatia sp. inside a tree trunk.
photographed alive (uncataloged) at type locality
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Spinipterus moijiri sp. nov.
Etymology: The specific epithet moijiri comes from Moijiri, as this species is known among the Paumari natives that inhabit the Rio Tapauá, Purus basin. The meaning of the word Moijiri is unknown so far. The Paumari language belongs to the Arawa linguistic group.
Marcelo Rocha, Felipe Rossoni, Alberto Akama and Jansen Zuanon. 2020. A New Species of Spiny Driftwood Catfish Spinipterus (Siluriformes: Auchenipteridae) from the Amazon Basin. Journal of Fish Biology. DOI: 10.1111/jfb.14211
Weird jaguar catfish is covered in spines and lives in wooden logs newscientist.com/article/2227556-weird-jaguar-catfish-is-covered-in-spines-and-lives-in-wooden-logs/
