Classification / Names
Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa
Teleostei (teleosts) >
Siluriformes (Catfishes) >
Trichomycteridae (Pencil or parasitic catfishes) > Glanapteryginae
Etymology: Typhlobelus: Greek, typhlos = blind + Greek, belos, -eos, -oys = arrow (Ref. 45335); auriculatus: From a Latin adjective auriculatus, meaning with ears, referring to the conspicuously modified
pseudotympanus in this species..
Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range
Ecology
Freshwater; demersal. Tropical
South America: Lower rio Xingu in Brazil.
Size / Weight / Age
Maturity: Lm ? range ? - ? cm
Max length : 3.0 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 94274)
Short description
Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics
Vertebrae: 54 - 56. This species can be diagnosed from all other trichomycterids (and, in the case of the former two characters, probably from all other catfishes) by three autapomorphic modifications: the pseudotympanus modified into a tympanic recess, visible as a deep, well-defined depression on the side of the head, and anteriorly connected via a superficial groove to the pterotic; absence of the laterosensory canal system on the body and head (except for the inner ear), reflected externally as a lack of sensory pores (except one modified pore incorporated into the tympanic recess and leading directly into the interior of the pterotic bone); and a supracleithrum not covering any portion of the lateral opening of the swimbladder capsule. It can be further distinguished from all its congeners by the following characters: absence of the anal fin (vs. presence); presence of one or two well-developed opercular odontodes (vs. absence); presence of anteroventral and dorsal processes of the opercle (vs. vestigial and absence, respectively). It further differs from both Typhlobelus macromycterus and T. guacamaya by having 4 branchiostegal rays (vs. 5 and 3, respectively); and from T. guacamaya and T. lundbergi by having some premaxillary teeth (vs. teeth absent) (Ref. 94274).
Collected during late afternoon at the peak of the southwestern Amazonian summer when rivers are at their lowest level. The site was a marginal sand bank forming a small island. Found in an area with moderate current (approx. 40 cm/sec), depths up to 35 cm, markedly warm water (30-33uC on the surface), horizontal transparency varied between 2.5 and 3.2 m and pH 6.5-7.0.
Life cycle and mating behavior
Maturities | Reproduction | Spawnings | Egg(s) | Fecundities | Larvae
de Pinna, M.C.C. and J. Zuanon, 2013. The genus Typhlobelus: Monopoly and taxonomy, with description of a new species with a unique pseudotympanic structure (Teleostei: Trichomycteridae). Copeia 2013(3):441-453. (Ref. 94274)
IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)
Threat to humans
Harmless
Human uses
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Estimates based on models
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref.
82804): PD
50 = 0.5312 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00102 (0.00046 - 0.00225), b=3.06 (2.88 - 3.24), in cm total length, based on all LWR estimates for this body shape (Ref.
93245).
Trophic level (Ref.
69278): 3.1 ±0.4 se; based on size and trophs of closest relatives
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref.
59153): Low vulnerability (10 of 100).
