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194
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Introduction
Professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul and Regional Chair for South America of the Freshwater Fish Specialist Group of IUCN. Has experience in ichthyology, mainly systematics, taxonomy and conservation of Neotropical fishes. Key interests are discovery, documentation and description of biodiversity, the study of phylogenetic relationships using phenotypic and molecular characters, and assessment of extinction risk. PLEASE always contact me by e-mail: reis@pucrs.br
Additional affiliations
August 1986 - present
Publications
Publications (194)
The limited temporal completeness and taxonomic accuracy of species lists, made available in a traditional manner in scientific publications, has always represented a problem. These lists are invariably limited to a few taxonomic groups and do not represent up-to-date knowledge of all species and classification. In this context, the B Brazilian meg...
A new species of Ancistrus is described from the rio Vacacaí drainage, rio Jacuí basin, laguna dos Patos system, southern Brazil. The new species differs from A. brevipinnis, the common species in the laguna dos Patos system, by having a dark brown to black background body color and dorsal and caudal fins plain dark, without lighter spots or bands....
A checklist of recent and fossil fishes of the Order Characiformes is presented herein and believed to be complete through 2022. A total of 47 collaborators checked and provided information about their taxa of expertise. The list is arranged in alphabetical order by family and then genus and includes all available synonyms. From a total of 3,087 sp...
A checklist of recent and fossil fishes of the Order Characiformes is presented herein and believed to be complete through 2022. A total of 47 collaborators checked and provided information about their taxa of expertise. The list is arranged in alphabetical order by family and then genus and includes all available synonyms. From a total of 3,087 sp...
Otocinclus cocama, a uniquely colored species of the loricariid catfish genus Otocinclus described solely from the type locality in the lower Ucayali River in northern Peru, is reported occurring in the Tigre River, a tributary to the Marañón River that drains a different section of the Andean Mountain range in the western Amazon. Both populations...
The present work aimed to analyze the distribution of the electrosensory pores of the Daggernose Shark Carcharhinus oxyrhynchus identifying the organ's importance in the natural history of the species. By examining photographs and digital microscope videos, we found that C. oxyrhynchus possesses the highest abundance of pores among Carcharhiniforme...
A new species of Sternopygus is described from the Orinoco River of Venezuela using traditional methods of morphometrics and meristics, and micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) imaging for osteological analysis. The new species is readily separated from all congeners in having broad, vertical pigment bars that extend from the mid-dorsum to the vent...
The Neotropical region hosts 4225 freshwater fish species, ranking first among the world's most diverse regions for freshwater fishes. Our NEOTROPICAL FRESHWATER FISHES data set is the first to produce a large‐scale Neotropical freshwater fish inventory, covering the entire Neotropical region from Mexico and the Caribbean in the north to the southe...
Landscape dynamics are widely thought to govern the tempo and mode of continental radiations, yet the effects of river network rearrangements on dispersal and lineage diversification remain poorly understood. We integrated an unprecedented occurrence dataset of 4,967 species with a newly compiled, time-calibrated phylogeny of South American freshwa...
This opinion paper examines the recent proposal for a new nomenclatural code for prokaryotes (SeqCode). It addresses four problematic issues: (1) epistemological—failure of the SeqCode to acknowledge taxa as explanatory hypotheses, (2) conceptual—designating as a name-bearer a coded section of the genome of an organism, (3) operational—changing nom...
A new, very distinctive species of Pareiorhaphis is described from the rio Uruguai basin, in Rio Grande do Sul State, southern Brazil. Pareiorhaphis pumila, new species, is a small bodied hypoptopomatine catfi sh with a maximum standard length barely reaching 50 mm. The specimens were captured from rock-bottomed habitats in various localities in th...
To understand how Neotropical freshwater fishes (NFF) benefit society, we conducted a broad literature survey to (i) map and list the ecosystem services (ES) generated by these organisms, and (ii) investigate how human activities have affected the ecosystem service chain. We found sound evidence that NFF contribute directly and indirectly to the ge...
A new genus of Hypopopomatinae armored catfish is described from the northern portions of South America, namely the Amazon, Orinoco and Guianan coastal drainages. The new genus is diagnosed from all remaining hypoptopomatines by having the canal cheek plate on the ventral surface of the head posteriorly elongated and contacting the cleithrum, in ad...
A new species of the rubbernose pleco genus Chaetostoma is described from the Maicuru and Seiko Rivers, a northern tributary of the lower Amazon River and a tributary of the lower Xingu River, respectively, both in Par State, Brazil. The new species is diagnosed from all congeners, except members of the Chaetostoma anale species group, by having an...
Aquaculture has tremendous importance in providing food for a growing world population. Nevertheless, unsustainable aquaculture causes nutrient build-up and favors biological invasions in natural habitats, demanding strategies to regulate such activity and therefore minimize environmental risks. Contrary to these concerns, the Brazilian Government...
For almost 30 years, there have been active discussions about the taxonomic impediment and the challenge this represents to address the current human-induced biodiversity crisis. From the start (Systematics Agenda 2000, 1994), the term ‘taxonomic impediment’ has been ambiguous, designating both the insufficiency and inadequacy of the resources put...
The IUCN Red List (RL) provides high-quality conservation assessments for individual species, yet the rate and scale of environmental deterioration globally challenges the conservation community to develop expedited methods for risk assessment. Here we compare threat assessments for 3,001 species of Neotropical freshwater fishes (NFF) in the IUCN–R...
Cteniloricaria is a genus of Neotropical armored catfishes belonging to the Loricariinae, currently including two valid species: C. platystoma and C. napova. Cteniloricaria platystoma is presently recorded across the main coastal drainages of the Guiana Shield, from the Sinnamary River, French Guiana, to the Essequibo River basin, Guyana, and is co...
Two new species of heptapterid catfish genus Cetopsorhamdia are described from close localities in western Brazil, at Chapada dos Parecis, an area with extremely high level of endemism. One species is from the upper Rio Madeira system, Rondônia State, and the other from the upper Rio Tapajós system, Mato Grosso State. The two species are diagnosed,...
Parotocinclus kwarup, new species, is described as a new hypoptopomatine cascudinho from tributaries of the upper
Xingu River in the Amazon basin of Brazil. The new species is distinguished from its congeners in northeastern and
southeastern Brazil by having the cheek canal plate elongated posteriorly on the ventral surface of the head and in
conta...
We present a combined molecular and morphological phylogenetic analysis of the Loricariinae, with emphasis on the Harttiini (Cteniloricaria, Harttia, and Harttiella) and Farlowellini (Aposturisoma, Farlowella, Lamontichthys, Pterosturisoma, Sturisoma, and Sturisomatichthys). Character sampling comprised seven molecular markers (the mitochondrial Cy...
Epactionotus species are known for inhabiting the rocky‐bottom stretches of fast‐flowing rivers in a limited geographic area along the Atlantic coast of southern Brazil. These species are endemic to single coastal river drainages (two neighbouring drainages for Epactionotus bilineatus) isolated from each other by the coastal lacustrine environments...
Abstract Amazonian waters are classified into three biogeochemical categories by dissolved nutrient content, sediment type, transparency, and acidity—all important predictors of autochthonous and allochthonous primary production (PP): (1) nutrient-poor, low-sediment, high-transparency, humic-stained, acidic blackwaters; (2) nutrient-poor, low-sedim...
Pareiorhaphis hystrix is a widely distributed species, occurring in the upper and middle Uruguay River and in the Taquari River basin, Patos Lagoon system, southern Brazil. Morphological variation has been detected throughout the distribution of P. hystrix, and this work seeks to test the conspecific nature of populations in several occurrence area...
Here we explore the use of community phylogenetics as a tool to document patterns of biodiversity in the Fitzcarrald region, a remote area in Southwestern Amazonia. For these analyses, we subdivide the region into basin-wide assemblages encompassing the headwaters of four Amazonian tributaries (Urubamba, Yuruá, Purús and Las Piedras basins), and ha...
A second species of Acanthobunocephalus is described from tributaries of the lower Purus River in the Amazon Basin, Brazil. Acanthobunocephalus scruggsi, new species, is distinguished from all other aspredinid species by its reduced number of fin rays: four pectoral-fin rays (vs. five or more), two dorsal-fin rays (vs. three or more, except Amarali...
Historical information on the probable type-locality of Pimelodus quelen and of its four junior synonyms that share the same neotype, Pimelodus namdia, Pimelodus sebae, Heterobranchus sextentaculatus, and Silurus rivularis, is presented and discussed. The neotype designation for those four species is deemed invalid for not complying with the provis...
Freshwater ecosystems provide irreplaceable services for both nature and society. The quality and quantity of freshwater affect biogeochemical processes and ecological dynamics that determine biodiversity, ecosystem productivity, and human health and welfare at local, regional and global scales. Freshwater ecosystems and their associated riparian h...
Through the DNA barcoding technique using the cytochrome oxidase subunit I (coI) mitochondrial gene, a high degree of fraudulent commerce of Cod (Bacalhau in Portuguese) was detected in the city of Porto Alegre, Brazil. Tested products included frozen and dried salted fish during the Easter period, the season with the highest Cod consumption. The s...
A taxonomic revision of Sturisomatichthys is presented. A total of 383 specimens including both type and non-type specimens of all valid species were examined. Sturisomatichthys was found to encompass ten valid species: Sturisomatichthys aureus, S. caquetae, S. citurensis, S. dariensis, S. festivus, S. frenatus, S. kneri, S. leightoni, S. panamensi...
A recent study based on genomic data by Roxo et al. (2019) provided a phylogeny of the Loricariidae, the largest catfish family and second largest Neotropical fish family with approximately 1,000 species. The study represents a valuable and innovative contribution for understanding higher-level relationships within the family. The phylogenetic tree...
The taxonomy of Rhamdia is one of the most confuse among South American catfishes. Reasons are the poorly defined species, including its type-species R. sebae, some old description from the 18th and 19th centuries, and a weak set of characters used to diagnose species. The situation is further complicated by the high number of species synonymized t...
Parotocinclus adamanteus, new species, is described from a series of specimens collected in the upper portion of the Rio Paraguaçu basin, a coastal river within the Chapada Diamantina domain, a large plateau on the State of Bahia in northeastern Brazil. The description of this new species represents the first record of a member of the Hypoptopomati...
A comprehensive phylogeny of species relationships of the Auchenipteridae is reconstructed here with a large-scale taxon sampling based on combined morphological and molecular datasets. The hypothesized phylogeny includes most species of Auchenipteridae (97 of 124 valid species) and multiple members of siluriform families as an outgroup (32 species...
A comprehensive phylogeny of species relationships of the Auchenipteridae is reconstructed here with a large-scale taxon sampling based on combined morphological and molecular datasets. The hypothesized phylogeny includes most species of Auchenipteridae (97 of 124 valid species) and multiple members of siluriform families as an outgroup (32 species...
This study aims to investigate relationships between species traits and publication date in the weakly electric osteoglossiform Mormyroidea (African knifefish and elephantfishes) and the ostariophysan Gymnotiformes (Neotropical knifefishes). It is investigated whether body size and geographic distribution area are correlated with publication date a...
A new species of Curculionichthys is described from the rio Curuá-Una basin, in the northern edge of the Brazilian Shield, State of Pará, Brazil. The new species is diagnosed from congeners by possessing a single rostral plate, by having darkened tooth-crowns, and by a series of morphometric and meristic data. A close examination of the species of...
The blind snake Anomalepis colombia was described based on a single specimen, and since the collection of this specimen by Kjell von Sneidern in January 1946, there are no records of other specimens in scientific collections. This species is known only from the type locality in La Selva, Pueblo Rico, Caldas, Colombia. In this study A. colombia is r...
Pseudobunocephalus timbira, new species, is described from streams of the lower Tocantins and the Mearim river drainages, in North and Northeast of Brazil. Pseudobunocephalus timbira can be distinguished from all congeners by having the second hypobranchial and the third basibranchial cartilaginous (vs. ossified). Additionally, it can be dintinguis...
Fraudulent mislabeling of fish products has been reported with some frequency, representing an important problem in the food industry and regulatory agencies of many countries. This case reports a fraudulent substitution of shark fillets for the much cheaper Striped-catfish, in a large purchase for public elementary school meals in a Brazilian town...
Pareiorhaphis mucurina, new species, is described from the Preto River, a headwater tributary of the Mucuri River basin, Minas Gerais State, eastern Brazil. This description represents the first record of Pareiorhaphis in the Mucuri River basin, the intervening drainage between the Doce and the Jequitinhonha rivers, two large coastal drainages in e...
Curculionichthys scaius, new species, is distinguished from other congeners by having two usually conspicuous, somewhat
triangular dark brown speckles lateral to the anal-fin origin, a pointed snout with paired rostral plates, numerous
lateral abdominal plates, a single series of large median abdominal plates, numerous dentary and premaxillary teet...
Parotocinclus yaka is described as a new species of hypoptopomatine cascudinho from tributaries of the Rio Tiquié, tributary to the Rio Uaupés, upper Rio Negro drainage, Amazon basin, Amazonas State, Brazil. The new species is distinguished from its congeners in northeastern and southeastern Brazil by having the cheek canal plate elongated posterio...
Two new species of Liotyphlops are described from Brazil, one from the Cerrado Biome in central Brazil and the other from the Atlantic Rainforest Biome in south Brazil. The new species are mainly diagnosed by the arrangement of cephalic scales and bones and counts of body scales. High-resolution X-ray computed tomography (HRXCT) was used to present...
Spinipterus Akama & Ferraris, 2011 is a monotypic genus known only by the holotype of its single species S. acsi , described from a creek tributary to the Nanay River, in the Peruvian portion of the Amazon basin. A second specimen of this genus and species representing the first record of occurrence in Brazil is reported from the Juruá River, upper...
Beginning in November 2018, Brazilian legislation regulating access to genetic heritage and associated traditional knowledge will cause a bureaucratic collapse of Biodiversity research in Brazil. Law number 13.123/2015 and Decree 8772/2016 impose severe barriers to basic and applied research, and to international cooperation by introducing mandator...
The family Aspredinidae is a moderately diverse and broadly distributed group of freshwater fishes endemic to South America. Commonly known as Banjo Catfishes, Aspredinidae currently includes 44 valid species divided among 13 genera. The first species-comprehensive hypothesis on phylogenetic relationships among aspredinids is presented. The phyloge...
The discovery of three new taxa of Hypoptotopomatini with ambiguous generic assignment prompted a reanalysis of the phylogenetic relationships of the tribe. The analysis focused on a data matrix of 56 terminals and 107 morphological characters comprising the three new taxa, most species of Hypoptopoma and Otocinclus, and all other species of the tr...
A new species of the loricariid genus Pareiorhaphis is described based on specimens from several tributaries of the upper and middle rio Jequitinhonha basin, Minas Gerais State, eastern Brazil. The new species increases the number of known species of Pareiorhaphis to 25 and, at the same time, represents the second member of the subfamily Neoplecost...
A phylogenetic study of the Loricariidae with emphasis on the Neoplecostominae is presented based on a maximum parsimony analysis of 268 phenotypic characters encompassing osteology, arthrology, and external morphology. Results support previous hypotheses of the monophyly of the Neoplecostominae and each of the included genera: Hirtella, Isbruecker...
A checklist of all freshwater fish species demonstrated to occur in Paraguay is presented with the aim of providing an updated list of all known fishes from Paraguay and to establish a baseline to keep the inventory updated. Species listed herein are only those that appear in published papers based on actual collection records. Type localities are...
Otothyropsis dialeukos is described from Itá creek, tributary to the upper Río Paraná basin, Paraguay. The new species is distinguished from its congeners by having a unique caudal-fin coloration pattern composed of a brown to almost black background with roundish hyaline blotches in the middle of the outermost branched rays and a hyaline posterior...
Citation: Alho CJR, Reis RE (2017) Exposure of Fishery Resources to Environmental and Socioeconomic Threats within the Pantanal Wetland of South America. Int J Aquac Fish Sci 3(2): 022-029. Abstract The huge Pantanal wetland, located in the central region of South America, mainly in Brazil, formed by the Upper Paraguay River Basin, comprising 150,3...
Xyliphius sofiae, new species, is described based on a unique specimen exhibiting four autapomorphies: eyes absent vs. present (though reduced); color pale, lacking pigment vs. head and body darkly pigmented; branchiostegal rays five vs. four; and unculiferous tubercles on posterior body distributed evenly vs. enlarged unculiferous tubercles typica...
A new miniature species of banjo catfish of the genus Hoplomyzon is described from the Lake Maracaibo Basin in Venezuela. The new species is distinguished from all its congeners by the straight anterior margin of the mesethmoid (vs. a medial notch); a smooth and straight ventral surface of the premaxilla (vs. presence of bony knobs on the ventral s...
A taxonomic revision of Eurycheilichthys is provided, and seven new species are described in addition to the two previously known species in this genus: E. pantherinus from the upper rio Uruguay, and E. limulus from the upper rio Jacuí. The genus is diagnosed based on the uniquely derived presence of seven branched pectoral-fin rays, and on the pos...
A new species of the aspredinid catfish tribe Hoplomyzontini Micromyzon is described from two specimens collected with trawl nets in two localities, at 10 and 18 m depth, in the main channel of the lower Orinoco River in Venezuela almost 40 years ago. The new species is distinguished from its only congener, Micromyzon akamai, by the: straight anter...
The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; Nemésio 2009a–b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009;...
This plot is not part of the published stance but derives from it. The plot shows the number of authors by geographic region (courtesy of Dr. Diego Astua).
A new species of Gelanoglanis is described based on specimens collected in the Tocantins River, a tributary of the Amazon Basin. The new species is distinguished from congeners by unusual features to the genus such as the pelvic fin falling short of the urogenital opening by a distance larger than the anal‐fin length, the first unbranched dorsal an...
This species is listed as Least Concern because its population is presumed to be stable and there are no known major threats affecting it.
This species is assessed as Least Concern because it has a wide distribution, is common, and there are no known major threats currently affecting it.