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DoNascimiento et al. 2025 (3)

Magdalenichthys poira is a newly described genus of heptapterid catfishes endemic to Colombia’s Magdalena River basin. It was formally described on 8 July 2025 in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, alongside three congeneric species (M. lundbergi, M. mompox, and M. yariguies) based on specimens long overlooked in ichthyological collections. Habitat: This species is present in the Anchique, Prado, Saldaña, Coello, Totare, and Sabandija rivers, all direct tributaries of the upper Magdalena River basin. Etymology: The genus name Magdalenichthys: In allusion to the Magdalena River basin, remarking on the restricted geographic distribution of this heptapterid genus to the Cauca and Magdalena rivers, which together form the main hydrographic basin of the trans-Andean region of Colombia, framed by the Western, Central, and Eastern cordilleras, the most salient feature of the Colombian geomorphology. Gender masculine. The specific name poira: Is the most important indigenous mythological figure of the Tolima department and refers to the mischievous and libertine Mohán, who is a human-like being (when it appears in the form of a child or adolescent), with a face tanned by the sun, and penetrating and rougish eyes. The poira enchants and attracts young women, who often go to wash clothes on the banks of the river. Used as a noun in apposition. (DoNascimiento et al. 2025).

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Heptapteridae

South America: Colombia, Magdalena River basin. Type locality: Colombia, Tolima, Chaparral, Río Guanábanos, tributary of Río Saldaña, 03°31’08”N 75°31’50”W.

5.0cm. (2ins)

23-25°C (73-77°F)

6.0-7.2.

Carlos DoNascimiento, Francisco Antonio Villa-Navarro, Juan G Albornoz-Garzón, Cristhian C Conde-Saldaña, Gabriel S C Silva, Alejandro Méndez-López, Fábio F Roxo, Armando Ortega-Lara, Claudio Oliveira, An unexpectedly diverse new genus of catfishes (Siluriformes, Heptapteridae) endemic to the Magdalena River basin, Colombia, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, Volume 204, Issue 3, July 2025, zlaf048.