Brazilian scientists have described three new species of bristlenose plecs (Ancistrus) from the Iguau River drainage in southern Brazil.
Alessandro Bifi, Carla Pavanelli and Cludio Zawadzki name the three new catfish Ancistrus abilhoai, A. agostinhoi and A. mullerae in a recent issue of the journal Zootaxa.
Ancistrus abilhoai is named after Vincius Albihoa, who collected part of the type series. It is distinguished from congeners in the region by a combination of: shorter maxillary barbel that is not distinctly produced from the lower lip margin, width of mandibulary tooth rows 13.4"15.5% head length and 32.9"37.9% interorbital width, eye diameter 11.9"15.3% head length, caudal peduncle depth 9.0"10.9% standard length, and 40"68 dentary teeth.
Ancistrus agostinhoi is distinguished from congeners in the region by a combination of: shorter maxillary barbel that is not distinctly produced from the lower lip margin, width of mandibulary tooth rows 15.8"19.3% head length and 38.4"53.6% interorbital width, eye diameter 12.3"17.3% head length, caudal peduncle depth 10.6"12.0% standard length, occipital depth 18.8"22.0% standard length, head length 37.8"41.4% standard length, and 38"78 dentary teeth.
It is named after fish ecologist 'ngelo Agostinho.
Ancistrus mullerae, named after Swiss ichthyologist Sonia Fisch-Muller, is distinguished from congeners in the region by a combination of: shorter maxillary barbel that is not distinctly produced from the lower lip margin, width of mandibulary tooth rows 16.5"21.0% head length and 39.3"58.0% interorbital width, eye diameter 11.9"18.4% head length, occipital depth 15.4"18.8% standard length, head length 34.4"37.9%, standard length, caudal peduncle depth 8.8"11.5% standard length, 51"97 dentary teeth, and 12"22 interopercular spines.
For more information, see the paper: Bifi, AG, CS Pavanelli and CH Zawadzki (2009) Three new species of Ancistrus Kner, 1854 (Siluriformes: Loricariidae) from the Rio Iguau basin, Paran State, Brazil. Zootaxa 2275, pp. 41"59.