Brazilian scientists have named a new species of bumblebee catfish from Paraguay after ichthyologist Carla Pavanelli.
Hctor Alcaraz, Weferson da Graa and Oscar Shibatta published the description of Microglanis carlae in the latest issue of the journal Neotropical Ichthyology.
The new species is distinguished from congeners by the following combination of characters: paired and anal fins mottled or with thin faint bands, dark-brown saddles on the trunk, serrations on the anterior margin of the pectoral spine retrorse proximally and antrorse distally, the tip of the pectoral spine produced to a distinct bony point, the continuous portion of the lateral line reaching the vertical through the last dorsal-fin ray, an irregularly shaped, faint to dark blotch on the caudal peduncle, maxillary barbel surpassing the vertical through the origin of the dorsal spine, and a dark bar on the posterior flank continuous from the base of the adipose fin to that of the anal fin.
Microglanis carlae is known from the Paraguay River drainage in Paraguay, with the species being found in moderately flowing sections of streams with dark brown water and bottoms of sand and mud and collected with a dip net under floating vegetation at a depth of 1.5 to 2 m.
Stomach contents of dissected specimens consisted of algae and insect larvae.
For more information, see the paper: Alcaraz, HSV, WJ da Graa and OA Shibatta (2008) Microglanis carlae, a new species of bumblebee catfish (Siluriformes: Pseudopimelodidae) from the ro Paraguay basin in Paraguay. Neotropical Ichthyology 6, pp. 425"432.