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| Rineloricaria cachivera Urbano-Bonilla, Londoño-Burbano & Carvalho, 2023 DOI: 10.1111/jfb.15500 |
Abstract
A new rheophilic species of the genus Rineloricaria is described for the Amazon basin in Colombia. Rineloricaria cachivera n. sp. differs from its congeners by having anterior to the first predorsal plate, an inconspicuous saddle-like mark; the presence of dark, diffuse blotches, present as unified dark colouration along most of the dorsal portion of the head, without bands or spots on the head; a long snout that occupies more than half the head length (HL), between 58.0% and 66.3% HL; a naked portion on the cleithral area from the border of lower lip reaching the origin of pectoral fin; and by having five series of lateral plates in longitudinal rows below the dorsal fin. The new species is morphologically similar to Rineloricaria daraha; however, it can be distinguished by the presence of six branched pectoral fin rays (vs. seven) and the lower lip surface with short thick papillae (vs. long finger papillae). An identification key to the Rineloricaria species of the Amazon River basin in Colombia is provided. The new species is herein categorized as Least Concern, following the IUCN criteria.
Keywords: endemism, Loricariinae, river, rapids, species, diversity, taxonomy
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| Paratypes of Rineloricaria cachivera n. sp. (a) Unpreserved specimen, río Vaupés at Resguardo Trubón. (b-c) MPUJ 14481, 114.4 mm standard length (LS), río Vaupés at Laguna Arcoiris small rocky bottom isolated lagoon from the river, Comunidad de Matapí, Mitú, Vaupés, Colombia. |
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| Habitat of Rineloricaria cachivera n. sp. (a) Tapira-Llerao sacred rock, (b) Raudal the Tapira-Llerao (Holotype) upstream of the Matapi indigenous community, (c) Laguna Arcoiris “small lagoon isolated from the raudal La Mojarra (paratype) upstream from the indigenous community of Matapi, (d) Raudal in the indigenous community of Trubón (paratype), and (e, f) petroglyphs in the cachiveras of the Vaupés River “Sacred sites” upstream of the Matapí indigenous community. |
Rineloricaria cachivera new species
Etymology: The specific name cachivera refers to a flow of water that runs violently between the rocks. In the cosmology of the indigenous peoples of the Vaupés, the waters of its rivers are inhabited by various supernatural creatures that must be venerated, consulted, and appeased in the rituals of the shamans; these creatures live and guard mainly the cachiveras of the rivers where humans are more fragile and face the greatest danger (Schultes & Raffauf, 2004) (e.g., Figure 4e,f). The species was named in memory of Javier Alejandro Maldonado-Ocampo “Nano,” who collected the new species in the cachivera of “Trubón” and “La Mojarra”; in the latter, on March 2, 2019, Nano stayed forever swimming in peace and happy with the rheophilic fish of the cachiveras of the Vaupés River.
Alexander Urbano-Bonilla, Alejandro Londoño-Burbano and Tiago P. Carvalho. 2023. A New Species of rheophilic Armored Catfish of Rineloricaria (Siluriformes: Loricariidae) from the Vaupés River, Amazonas Basin, Colombia. Journal of Fish Biology. DOI: 10.1111/jfb.15500
