This species is distinguished from all its congeners by the following characters: predorsal scales 11-17 (vs. 7-9); differs from T. anostomus, T. denticulatus, T. kuluene, T. juruena by the principal teeth in dentary 4 (vs. 5-6), and larger and more robust teeth (vs. thinner and sharper); differs from T. anostomus, T. araguaiensis by the number of gill-rakers on the upper limb of the first gill arch 12-15 (vs.17-20); differs from T. anostomus by having a terminal mouth (vs. subsuperior mouth); differs from T. ommatus the maxillary teeth 1-4 (vs. 7-8) and by the presence of a conspicuous dark mark on the caudal peduncle (vs. inconspicuous mark limited to the posterior portion of the caudal peduncle); differs from T. carvalhoi by having a rounded dark mark on the caudal peduncle (vs. lozenge-shaped dark mark on the caudal peduncle); differs from T. rarus by the absence of dark longitudinal stripes on the trunk (vs. presence of such stripes); differs from T. rarus, T. georgiae having the scale rows between lateral line and pelvic-fin origin 3.5 (vs. 4.5-5.5); differs from T. denticulatus by having humeral marks separated by one or two vertical rows of scales (vs. humeral marks separated by three vertical scale rows) (Ref. 124043).