Pimelodus, Lacepède, 1803

Almirón, Adriana, Casciotta, Jorge, Pialek, Lubomir, Pimelodus, Oldrich Rican Abstract & The, Argentina., 2009, First record of Pimelodus britskii Garavello & Shibatta, 2007 (Siluriformes: Pimelodidae) in freshwaters of Argentina., Ichthyological Contributions of PecesCriollos 12, pp. 1-2 : 1

The genus Pimelodus

is one of the most specious of the family Pimelodidae . Inhabiting tropical, subtropical and temperate environments in the Neotropical region, from Panamá to Argentina ( Garavello & Shibatta, 2007).

Six species of Pimelodus were registered from Argentina: P. absconditus Azpelicueta, 1995 ; P. albicans (Valenciennes, 1840) ; P. argenteus Perugia, 1891 ; P. maculatus La Cépède, 1803 ; P. mysteriosus Azpelicueta 1998 , and P. ornatus Kner, 1858 . In this country, the genus Pimelodus is found in the Paraná, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Río de la Plata basins. Pimelodus maculatus and P. albicans are the only species found in the Río de la Plata, the southernmost limit of the genus ( Azpelicueta, 1998) and occasionally can reach as far south as the río Salado basin in Buenos Aires Province ( López et al., 2001).

Only two species of Pimelodus were described from the río Iguazú basin: Pimelodus ortmanni (Haseman, 1911) and Pimelodus britskii Garavello & Shibatta, 2007 . Both species were described with material collected at the right margin of the río Iguazú in Brazilian localities.