Habitat: Xyliphius
live buried in the sand and perhaps gravel of swift
flowing streams. Remarks: The banjo
catfish genus Xyliphius was established by
Eigenmann (1912) to include a single species, X.
magdalenae Eigenmann, from Río Magdalena
basin, Girardot, Colombia. That description was based
on a single specimen, 32.0 mm SL. Later, four species
were described in a short time frame: X.
lepturus and
X. melanopterus from western headwaters of
Río Bobonaza, upper Amazon basin (Orcés,
1962), X.
barbatus (Alonso de Arámburu
& Arámburu, 1962), and X. lombarderoi
(Risso & Risso, 1964), from Río Paraná,
in Argentina. A sixth species, X. kryptos,
was described by Taphorn & Lilyestrom (1983),
from Río Aricuaisá, lago de Maracaibo
basin, Venezuela. Further collections, though small,
expanded the distribution of species of Xyliphius
beyond their type localities (Cala, 1977). Currently,
the six nominal species of Xyliphius are
known from northern South America in the Río
Magdalena system (X. magdalenae), lago de
Maracaibo (X. kryptos), and western headwaters
of the Amazonas basin and Río Orinoco (X.
lepturus and X. melanopterus), and from
southern South America in the Río de La Plata
system (X. barbatus and X. lombarderoi)
(Taphorn & Lilyestrom, 1983; Galvis et al., 1997;
Calviño & Castello, 2008). Another new
species, Xyliphius anachoretes (Figueiredo
Carlos A, Britto Marcelo R. 2010) making 7 species
in total is from the Tocantins-Araguaia River system.
In 2017 another species Xyliphius
sofiae was described
from the vicinity of Iquitos, Maynas, Loreto, Peru
to take the overal total to 8.
Common
Name:
Skunk Banjo Catfish
Synonyms:
None
Family:
Aspredinidae
Distribution:
South America:
Upper Amazon and Orinoco River basins. Type
locality: el bajo Pucayacu no lejos de su
desembocadura en el Bobonaza [Ecuador].
Size:
15.0cm. (6ins)
Temp:
20-24°C (67-75°f.)
p.H.
6.0-7.0.
Reference:
Ferraris, C.J. Jr.,
2007. Checklist of catfishes, recent and fossil (Osteichthyes:
Siluriformes), and catalogue of siluriform primary
types. Zootaxa 1418:1-628. Friel, J.P., 2003. Aspredinidae (Banjo
catfishes). p. 261-267. In R.E. Reis, S.O. Kullander
and C.J. Ferraris, Jr. (eds.) Checklist of the Freshwater
Fishes of South and Central America. Porto Alegre:
EDIPUCRS, Brasil.
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