Argentinian and German scientists have described a new species of miniature loricariid catfish.
The new species, named Hisonotus hungy, is described in the latest issue of the Revue Suisse de Zoologie by Maria Azpelicueta, Adriana Almirn, Jorge Casciotta and Stefan Koerber.
Hisonotus hungy differs from all other members of the genus in having 20"22 lateral plates, five branched anal-fin rays, blunt and deep snout (45.5"50.9% head length) eye diameter 13.4"17.1% head length), ventral region of body completely covered by two rows of large lateral platelets and one median row of irregular plates, and lacking pad on snout tip and pre-dorsal unpaired plates.
The new species is named after its coloration (the specific epithet is a guaran word for brown), and is known only from the Paran River drainage in Argentina. Hisonotus hungy is a small species whose largest known size is only 37 mm standard length.
Other species of fishes collected at the type locality (arroyo Tiica) included Astyanax eigenmanniorum, A. cf.fasciatus, A. cf. troya, Australoheros tembe, Bryconamericus iheringii, Characidium sp., Corydoras carlae, Gymnogeophagus che, Heptapterus mustelinus, Oligoscarcus jenynsii, O. paranensis and Schizodon nasutus.
For more information, see the paper: Azpelicueta, M de las M, AE Armirn, JR Casiotta and S Koerber (2007) Hisonotus hungy sp. n. (Siluriformes, Loricariidae) a new species from arroyo Tirica, Misiones, Argentina. Revue Suisse de Zoologie 114, pp. 591"598.