Revised 21 Sept. 2024
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Whale Catfishes
Subfamily CETOPSINAE Bleeker 1858
Cetopsidium Vari, Ferraris & de Pinna 2005 Cetopsis, type genus of family; –idium, –idium, Latin diminutive suffix, referring to relatively small sizes of members of genus
Cetopsidium ferreirai Vari, Ferraris & de Pinna 2005 in honor of Brazilian ichthyologist Efrem J. G. Ferreira (b. 1954), Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), collector of all known specimens of this species, for his contributions to our knowledge of the fishes of the Brazilian Amazon
Cetopsidium minutum (Eigenmann 1912) Latin for very small, referring to length of type specimen, 22 mm long
Cetopsidium morenoi (Fernández-Yépez 1972) in honor of José Moreno (no other information available), who has collected fishes for science for over 20 years
Cetopsidium orientale (Vari, Ferraris & Keith 2003) Latin for eastern, the easternmost known member of the family
Cetopsidium pemon Vari, Ferraris & de Pinna 2005 named for the Pemon, an Amerindian tribe whose traditional territories included area of type locality in eastern Venezuela
Cetopsidium roae Vari, Ferraris & de Pinna 2005 in honor of British ichthyologist Rosemary Lowe-McConnell (1921–2014), known as Ro to colleagues and friends, the collector of all known specimens of this species, for her contributions to our knowledge of the fishes of Guyana and many other regions of the world
Cetopsidium soniae Vari & Ferraris 2009 in honor of Sonia Fisch-Muller, Muséum d’histoire naturelle (Geneva), who brought this species to the authors’ attention, for invaluable assistance to both authors over the years, and for contributing in “myriad ways” to their knowledge of South American fishes
Cetopsis Agassiz 1829 ceto, from kḗtos (Gr. κῆτος), any big “fish” (larger than a human), in particular a whale; ópsis (Gr. ὄψις), appearance, referring to whale-like shape (i.e., robust body and smoothly curved head and body profiles) of C. candiru and C. coecutiens
Cetopsis amphiloxa (Eigenmann 1914) amphi– (Gr. ἁμφί), on both sides or double; loxós (Gr. λοξός), slanting, crosswise or oblique, allusion not explained nor evident
Cetopsis arcana Vari, Ferraris & de Pinna 2005 Latin for secret or hidden, referring to its occurrence in sinkholes
Cetopsis aspis Abrahão, Mol & de Pinna 2019 aspís (ἀσπίς), shield, referring to its distribution in Guiana Shield drainages in Guyana and Suriname
Cetopsis baudoensis (Dahl 1960) –ensis, Lati suffix denoting place: Río Baudó, Colombia, type locality (also endemic to Río Baudó basin)
Cetopsis caiapo Vari, Ferraris & de Pinna 2005 named for the Caiapo Amerindian tribe who historically inhabited the area of the rio Tocantins drainage system (Goiás, Brazil), type locality
Cetopsis candiru Spix & Agassiz 1829 vernacular name for parasitic catfishes (Trichomycteridae) in Brazil, probably referring to the voracious predatory and scavenging feeding habits of this species and C. coecutiens (attacking carrion, live fishes in nets, and sometimes humans), which contributed to the erroneous assumption that they are parasitic
Cetopsis coecutiens (Lichtenstein 1819) Latin for being blind or seeing poorly, presumably referring to its eyes covered by skin
Cetopsis fimbriata Vari, Ferraris & de Pinna 2005 Latin for fringed, referring to dark pigmentation along distal portion of anal fin
Cetopsis gobioides Kner 1858 –oides, Neo-Latin from eī́dos (Gr. εἶδος), having the form of: referring to its pelvic fins, which are fused like those of a goby (Gobius) [an apparent misnomer; cetopsid pelvic fins are closely positioned but they are not fused (Richard P. Vari, pers. comm.)]
Cetopsis jurubidae (Fowler 1944) of the Río Jurubidá, Nuquí, Colombia, type locality
Cetopsis montana Vari, Ferraris & de Pinna 2005 Latin for pertaining to mountains, referring to piedmont regions of the eastern slopes of the Andean Cordilleras, which are drained by the river systems inhabited by this catfish
Cetopsis motatanensis (Schultz 1944) –ensis, Latin suffix denoting place: Río Motatán, Venezuela, type locality
Cetopsis oliveirai (Lundberg & Rapp Py-Daniel 1994) in honor of Brazilian ichthyologist José Carlos de Oliveira, for contributions to the knowledge of cetopsid catfishes
Cetopsis orinoco (Schultz 1944) named for the Río Orinoco system, Venezuela, type locality
Cetopsis othonops (Eigenmann 1912) othónē (Gr. ὀθόνη), fine linen, veil, or a membrane that encloses the pupil of the eye; ṓps (Gr. ὦψ), eye, presumably referring to eyes covered by skin
Cetopsis parma Oliveira, Vari & Ferraris 2001 parma (L.), from pármē (Gr. πάρμη), a light shield or buckler, referring to dark shield-like mark on lateral surface of body just above pectoral fin
Cetopsis pearsoni Vari, Ferraris & de Pinna 2005 in honor of American ichthyologist Nathan Everett Pearson (1895–1982), Indiana University, whose collecting efforts in 1921 documented the high diversity of fishes in the rio Madeira drainage basin of southeastern Peru and northeastern Bolivia
Cetopsis plumbea Steindachner 1882 Latin for of or pertaining to lead, i.e., lead-colored, referring to silver-white body and head
Cetopsis sandrae Vari, Ferraris & de Pinna 2005 in honor of French-born American museum specialist Sandra J. Raredon (b. 1954), Division of Fishes, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C., for her assistance to the authors, particularly the first author, in this and many other projects
Cetopsis sarcodes Vari, Ferraris & de Pinna 2005 sarkṓdēs (Gr. σαρκώδης), fleshy, referring to its rotund body form
Cetopsis starnesi Vari, Ferraris & de Pinna 2005 in honor of American ichthyologist Wayne C. Starnes, North Carolina State Museum of Natural History, who collected holotype along with numerous other specimens of fishes that have proved very useful in this and other studies
Cetopsis umbrosa Vari, Ferraris & de Pinna 2005 Latin for shady, referring to dark pigmentation on dorsal and anterior portions of the snout (compared with unpigmented snout on the geographically proximate and somewhat externally similar C. montana)
Cetopsis varii Abrahão & de Pinna 2018 in honor of Richard P. Vari (1949–2016), National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution (Washington, D.C., USA), for his “landmark” contributions to the systematics of fishes, especially the Cetopsidae, and for his “inspiring role as a model of scientific and personal integrity to new generations of ichthyologists”
Denticetopsis Ferraris 1996 dentis (L.), tooth, referring to elevated symphyseal teeth of dentary; Cetopsis, type genus of family
Denticetopsis epa Vari, Ferraris & de Pinna 2005 named for the Brazilian Expedição Permanente de Amazônia (EPA), which collected large series of scientifically valuable fishes, including holotype of this species, across broad expanses of the Amazon basin
Denticetopsis iwokrama Vari, Ferraris & de Pinna 2005 named for the Iwokrama rainforest project in the region of Guyana, during which holotype was collected
Denticetopsis macilenta (Eigenmann 1912) Latin for thin or lean, referring to “sides with numerous chromatophores, whose rays branch forward and backward from the center of the cell, giving a strigose effect and looking like little bundles of sticks tied in the middle, hence the name” (presumably the “sticks” are thin or lean)
Denticetopsis praecox (Ferraris & Brown 1991) Latin for precocious or premature, referring to small size at sexual maturity (up to 52.9 mm SL)
Denticetopsis royeroi Ferraris 1996 in honor of ichthyologist-parasitologist Ramiro Royero-Leon (b. 1958), Universidad Central de Venezuela, who accompanied Ferraris on all of his field work in Venezuela
Denticetopsis sauli Ferraris 1996 in honor of William G. Saul (b. 1944), collection manager of the Ichthyology Department of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, who participated in the collection of the type series and brought this species to the author’s attention
Denticetopsis seducta Vari, Ferraris & de Pinna 2005 Latin for remote or apart, referring to it disjunct or scattered distribution (across a relatively wide portion of the central and western Amazon basin and possibly the southwestern portions of the río Orinoco basin) relative to congeners
Paracetopsis Bleeker 1862 para– (Gr. παρά), near, referring to similarity to and/or close relationship with Cetopsis
Paracetopsis atahualpa Vari, Ferraris & de Pinna 2005 named for Atahualpa, who reigned from 1515 to 1533 as the last ruler of the Inca Empire, which encompassed the region (northwestern Peru and southwestern Ecuador) from which this catfish was collected
Paracetopsis bleekeri Bleeker 1862 in honor of Dutch army surgeon and ichthyologist Pieter Bleeker (1819–1878); Bleeker used a museum name coined by Guichenot, whom he credited, but since Bleeker made the name available he becomes the author of a name that honors himself
Paracetopsis esmeraldas Vari, Ferraris & de Pinna 2005 named for both the Ecuadorian Province of Esmeraldas, from which all specimens of the species originated, and the río Esmeraldas basin, within which holotype was collected
Marbled Catfishes
Subfamily HELOGENINAE Regan 1911
Helogenes Günther 1863 etymology not explained, perhaps hélos (Gr. ἕλος), marshland, swamp or bog, and genes, from génesis (Gr. γένεσις), manner of birth, i.e., marsh-born; although these catfishes are typically found in clumps of aquatic vegetation in backwater streams, Günther did not mention habitat
Helogenes castaneus (Dahl 1960) Latin for chestnut-brown, referring to its dominant body color, a “dark chestnut brown”
Helogenes gouldingi Vari & Ortega 1986 in honor of conservation ecologist Michael Goulding (b. 1950), who collected holotype, for his contributions to the knowledge of Amazonian fishes
Helogenes marmoratus Günther 1863 Latin for marbled, referring to its blackish-brown coloration, “finely marbled with black” (per Günther 1864)
Helogenes uruyensis Fernández-Yépez 1967 –ensis, Latin suffix denoting place: Uruyén River, Venezuela, type locality