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Danté Fenolio (1)

Habitat: Aspidoras mephisto is described from the Anésio III and Russão II cave system, upper Tocantins River basin, Goiás, Brazil. Description: The species can be readily distinguished from its congeners by troglomorphic features and also by presenting the following combination of features: infraorbital 1 generally with well-developed ventral laminar; or moderately developed; poorly-developed serrations on posterior margin of pectoral spine; nuchal plate not externally visible; dorsal fin, even in conspicuously coloured specimens, with only dark brown or black chromatophores concentrated on rays, forming spots in some specimens; membranes hyaline; or sparse dark brown or black chromatophores on membranes, not forming any conspicuous pattern; and inner laminar expansion of infraorbital 1 moderately developed. This newly discovered species (2017) lives in caves making it the first cave dwelling member of the Corydoradinae found. Aspidoras posses a duel fontanel bone structure in the skull whereas Corydoras have only the one larger fontanel. Lineage: All Aspidoras belong to Lineage 2 with the exception of A. pauciradiatus which will prove to be a Corydoras and if a revision is carried out will be Gastrodermus (Cope, 1878) and a member of Lineage 5 alongside members of the "elegans group". Aquarium Care: Best kept in groups of six or more and are best housed with small fishes that are not aggressive. Although no plants occur in their habitat you can still provide a planted area in the tank for cover and include a soft substrate such as sand or small rounded gravel with coral sand added if in a soft water area. This species if ever exported would need a very dimly lit aquarium to prosper. Diet: Flake, tablet foods, small live and frozen foods. Etymology: The epithet “mephisto” refers to the shortened name of Mephistopheles, demon from the German folklore. Mephistopheles comes from the Greek by the combination of three words: (me), a negation, (phos), meaning light, and (philis), meaning loving, literally “not-light-loving”, or the one who does not love the light, making allusion to the subterranean behavior of the new species. A noun in apposition. Remarks: As this species lives in a cave system which is formed by limestone rock a higher pH above neutral would be best.

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Callichthyidae

South America: Brazil, known only from the Anésio-Russão cave system (Anésio III and Russão II caves), part of the upper Rio Tocantins basin.

Male: 5.0cm (2ins) Female: 5.5cm (2¼ins)

22-25°C (71-77°F)

7.0-7.5.

Alexandrou, Markos & Taylor, Martin. (2011). Evolution, ecology and taxonomy of the Corydoradinae revisited.
Tencatt LFC, Bichuette ME (2017) Aspidoras mephisto, new species: The first troglobitic Callichthyidae (Teleostei: Siluriformes) from South America. PLoS ONE 12(3): e0171309. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0171309
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