Ichthyologists from the USA have described a new species of electric knifefish from the northern parts of the Amazon River drainage.
Publishing the description of Platyurosternarchus crypticus in the latest issue of the journal Copeia, Carlos de Santana and Richard Vari distinguish it from its sole congener, P. macrostoma, in the form of the laterosensory canal segment in the soft tissues of the ventral portion of the head and within the preopercle, the posterior extent of the mid-dorsal electroreceptive filament, and the morphology of the first and fourth branchiostegal rays.
According to the authors, one specimen of the new species was found in a ...forest stream with relatively clear water weakly stained with tannins over a gravel and cobble bottom covered with leaf and twig litter.
Platyurosternarchus crypticus is known from the Branco River drainage (a northern tributary of the Amazon River) and its species name comes from the Greek kryptos, meaning hidden or secret, referring to the previously undetected differences between this species and its sole congener. The authors also redescribe P. macrostoma in this study.
For more information, see the paper: de Santana, CD and RP Vari (2009) The South American electric fish genus Platyurosternarchus (Gymnotiformes: Apteronotidae). Copeia 2009, pp. 233"244.