New Parancistrus plec named

A new species of loricariid catfish from the genus Parancistrus has been described from Brazil's Rio Xingu.

The plec, which has been named Parancistrus nudiventris is believed to be a close relative of the Rubber plec, P. aurantiacus, and has just been described in the journal Neotropical Ichthyology.

The new catfish gets its name "nudiventris" from its naked abdomen which contrasts strikingly with the plated abdomen seen in aurantiacus.

Lucia Rapp Py-Daniel and Jansen Zuanon, who described the new catfish species, say that nudiventris also has bluish dots on its body, which are absent in the uniformly drab aurantiacus.

Among other characteristic features, nudiventris also has bigger buccal teeth and its odontodes are partly exposed, while those of aurantiacus are embedded in the skin.

For more details on identifying the catfish see the paper: Rapp Py-Daniel, LH and J Zuanon (2005) - Description of a new species of Parancistrus (Siluriformes: Loricariidae) from the rio Xingu, Brazil. Neotropical Ichthyology, 3(4):571-577, 2005.