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Steven Grant (1) Peru Aquarium Group (1) GREEN FISH Aquarium (2) Zierfisch Zentrum Austria (1)

Habitat: Xyliphius live buried in the sand and perhaps gravel of swift flowing streams. Description: 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. Etymology: The genus name Xyliphius: derived from the Greek word, xylephion = a little piece of wood (referring to the woodlike appearance of the type species of the genus). The specific name lepturus: derived from the Greek word leptos = thin, and the Greek suffix -ouros (which is derived from the Greek word oura = tail). Remarks: In 2017 another species Xyliphius sofiae was described from the vicinity of Iquitos, Maynas, Loreto, Peru to take the overal total to 8.

Shark Banjo Catfish

None

Aspredinidae

South America: Upper Amazon and Orinoco River basins of Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela. Type locality: Cerca de Desembocadura del rio Pucayacu en el Bobonaza, Ecuador.

13.0cm. (5ins)

22-25°C (72-76°F)

Figueiredo Carlos A, Britto Marcelo R. A new species of Xyliphius, a rarely sampled banjo catfish (Siluriformes: Aspredinidae) from the rio Tocantins-Araguaia system. Neotrop. ichthyol. 2010 Mar [cited 2011 Feb 10].
ScotCat Factsheet no. 194. August 2012.