Abstract
Hypostomus delimaiis described from the rio Tocantins, Tocantins State, and from the rio Araguaia, Pará, and Tocantins States, Brazil. The new species is distinguished from all other Hypostomusspecies, except from H. carinatus, H. hoplonites, and H. watwata, by the presence of five to eight (mode seven) predorsal plates limiting posterior border of the supraoccipital bone (vs. one to three plates). It can be distinguished from H. carinatus, H. hoplonites, and H. watwata by having pale spots over darker background on body and fins (vs. dark spots over lighter background). The species was only found in the middle stretches of the rio Tocantins-Araguaia basin. The first collection of specimens assigned to the new species was done in the rio Tocantins before the construction of the Tucuruí dam. Recently additional material was collected in the rio Araguaia, in a habitat that soon will be flooded for the construction of the Santa Isabel hydroelectric power station.
Highlights
The family Loricariidae, with more than 800 valid species (Reis et al, 2003; Froese & Pauly, 2012), represents one of the largest fish families in the world
Hypostomus delimai is distinguished from its congeners by an unusual combination of characters, namely, five to eight plates limiting supraoccipital, pale spots and vermiculations over body and fins, keeled lateral series of plates, and a large interorbital width
The three nominal species of Hypostomus having more than three platelets limiting posterior border of the supraoccipital are H. carinatus, H. hoplonites, and H. watwata
Summary
The family Loricariidae, with more than 800 valid species (Reis et al, 2003; Froese & Pauly, 2012), represents one of the largest fish families in the world. Hypostomus Lacépède, 1803, with 128 species (Zawadzki et al, 2010; Martins et al, 2012), is the most species-rich genus of this group and one of the largest genera in the Neotropical region. Hypostomus atropinnis (Eigenmann & Eigenmann, 1880) and H. goyazensis (Regan, 1904) are two species that do not have spots nor developed keels along lateral series of plates. Both species are from the rio Vermelho, a tributary to upper stretches of the rio Araguaia
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