The bulldog or rubberlip plec that is most commonly encountered in the aquarium trade has often been identified as Chaetostoma thomsoni, but is in fact an undescribed species. But it has now been formally named.
The species has been named Chaetostoma formosae by Gustavo Ballen in a recent issue of the journal Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia.
The new species differs from congeners in the mature males having an enlarged second anal-fin ray and pelvic fins without filamentous rays and with an angular margin, dark spots restricted to the head and the dorsal region surrounding the dorsal-fin base, the compound pterotic and lateral plates with dark borders, presence of a parieto-supraoccipital dermal keel , strongly recurved cheek odontodes, and an unplated snout. Chaetostoma formosae is known from the upper Meta and Guaviare river drainages in eastern Colombia.
For more information, see the paper: Ballen, GA (2011) A new species of Chaetostoma Tschudi (Siluriformes: Loricariidae) from Colombia with a definition of the C. anale species group. Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia 51, pp. 383–398.
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