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Avalithoxus jantjae (Lujan, 2008)

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Description: Due to the recent paper (2018) by Lujan et al. this is a new described genera. They erected the new genus Avalithoxus for Lithoxus jantjae, a species that is narrowly endemic to the Ventuari River immediately upstream of Salto Tencua and is unique in Hypostominae for having only 12 branched caudal-fin rays. Lithoxus is restricted to Lithoxus lithoides from the Essequibo and Correntyne rivers in Guyana and Suriname. Aquarium Care: Quite a demanding genera which need pure, oxygen rich water. They need plenty of hiding places and the aquarium to be very strongly filtered. Diet: Insectivores that feed in their natural habitat from insect larvae on rocks. Feed Frozen mosquito larvae, brine shrimp and Daphnia. They will also except tablet foods. Etymology: The specific name: jantjae: In honour of Lujan’s mother Jeanne, nicknamed Jantje (pronounced yäntchi) prior to her emigration from the Netherlands, “in deep appreciation for her hard work and material and emotional encouragement that promoted [Lujan’s] professional development and made this research possible”.

Common Name:

None

Synonyms:

Lithoxus jantjae

Family:

Loricariidae

Distribution:

South America: Known only from ~180 m a.s.l. in the Ventuari River, immediately upstream of Salto Tencua in the central region of Amazonas State, Venezuela.

Size:

4.0cm. (1¾ins)

Temp:

23-27°c (73-81°f.)

p.H.

6.0-7.5.

IUCN Red List

Not Evaluated.

Reference:

Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2015. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, ( 03/2016 ).
Lujan, N.K., 2008. Description of a new Lithoxus (Siluriformes: Loricariidae) from the Guayana Highlands with a discussion of Guiana Shield biogeography. Neotrop. Ichthyol. 6(3):413-418.
Lujan, NK; Armbruster, JW & Lovejoy, NR, 2018 "Multilocus phylogeny, diagnosis and generic revision of the Guiana Shield endemic suckermouth armored catfish tribe Lithoxini (Loricariidae: Hypostominae)" (Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, Vol. 20).
Seidel, I. 2008. Back to Nature guide to L-catfishes, Ettlingen, Germany 208 p.
The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database © Christopher Scharpf.

Family: Loricariidae Back to Ident-A-Cat Click on Thumbnails

Avalithoxus jantjae
Holotype, MCNG 55349, 38.4 mm SL, Venezuela, Amazonas State, Ventuari River upstream of Tencua Falls

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