Ituglanis boticario, a new troglomorphic catfish (Teleostei: Siluriformes: Trichomycteridae) from Mambaí karst area, central Brazil

The Laterosensory Canal System in Epigean and Subterranean Ituglanis (Siluriformes: Trichomycteridae), With Comments About Troglomorphism and the Phylogeny of the Genus

“…Trichomycteridae (Teleostei: Ostariophysi: Siluriformes; Fig. ) is the third richest family in terms of number of known exclusively subterranean fishes (Rizzato and Bichuette, ). The family is a monophyletic assemblage of small catfishes easily diagnosed by their highly specialized opercular‐interopercular apparatus bearing odontodes (de Pinna, ; de Pinna and Wosiacki ; Adriaens et al, ; Datovo and Bockmann, ).…”

“…The family is a monophyletic assemblage of small catfishes easily diagnosed by their highly specialized opercular‐interopercular apparatus bearing odontodes (de Pinna, ; de Pinna and Wosiacki ; Adriaens et al, ; Datovo and Bockmann, ). Species in this clade show a high diversity of diet types and life habits (Datovo and Bockmann, ), including parasitic or semi‐parasitic habits (especially in the more derived subfamilies, for example, the mucus and scale‐eating stegophilines and the hematophagous vandellines), and the successful colonization of unusual habitats, such as the subterranean environment (Rizzato and Bichuette, ).…”

“…), which includes the genera Bullockia, Eremophilus, Hatcheria, Rhizosomichthys, Scleronema, Silvinichthys , and the most species‐rich Trichomycterus and Ituglanis . The genus Trichomycterus is also the richest trichomycterid genus in the number of known subterranean representatives, with 13 species distributed in caves from Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, and Bolivia, followed by Ituglanis , with seven subterranean species known to date, all of which occur in Brazilian caves (Rizzato and Bichuette, ).…”

“…“Posse”, are of special interest for both geographical and evolutionary reasons. These species occur in a very limited geographic range, the northeastern portion of Goiás state, Brazil, where two large carbonate (= limestone) karst areas occur, the São Domingos, to the north, and the Mambaí, to the south (see map and details in Rizzato and Bichuette, ). There is evidence that the colonization of the subterranean environment occurred independently for each of these species.…”

“…Arratia and Huaquin () described the laterosensory canals of representatives of most genera of Trichomycterinae, except for Ituglanis . Since the work of Datovo and Landim (), descriptions of the laterosensory canals and pores have been included in taxonomic works for all new species of Ituglanis described or redescribed so far: I. macunaima (Datovo and Landim, ); I. cahyensis (Sarmento‐Soares et al, ); I. paraguassuensis (Campos‐Paiva and Costa, ); I. amazonicus , I. parkoi , plus four undescribed species from the Amazon basin (Canto, ); I. ina (Wosiacki et al, ); I. agreste (Lima et al, ); I. apteryx (Datovo, ); I. australis (Datovo and de Pinna, ); I. boticario (Rizzato and Bichuette, ); I. boitata (Ferrer et al, ); and I. goya (Datovo et al, ). Sarmento‐Soares et al () also provide a description of the laterosensory canal system of I. proops and I. parahybae .…”