Gymnotocinclus anosteos, a new uniquely-plated genus and species of loricariid catfish (Teleostei: Siluriformes) from the upper rio Tocantins basin, central Brazil

Abstract

Gymnotocinclus anosteos, a new genus and species, is described from a headwater stream of the upper rio Tocantins basin in central Brazil. The new taxon is distinguished from other loricariids by the extreme reduction of dermal plates, having an almost completely naked body. Three other diagnostic features are: the absence of the lateral connecting bone, absence of bifid hemal spines, and odontode tips in the last dermal plates on the caudal peduncle dorsally or anteriorly curved. These derived features are not shared with any other hypoptopomine genus and the new taxon is hypothesized to be a basal member of the subfamily. Character states proposed by previous phylogenies of the subfamily are examined in the new taxon and its relationships are discussed.