Trichogenes beagle

Santos, Sérgio Alexandre Dos, Reis, Vinícius José Carvalho, Marques, Isabel De Carvalho Costa, Pessali, Tiago Casarim, Britski, Heraldo Antônio & Pinna, Mário De, 2025, Rediscovery of Trichogenes beagle de Pinna, Reis & Britski, 2020 (Siluriformes: Trichomycteridae) with comments on habitat and conservation status, Zootaxa 5601 (1), pp. 196-200 : 198-199

Trichogenes beagle

appears to have a restricted geographic distribution area, in sites highly vulnerable to anthropogenic activities. The known Area of Occupancy (AOO) for T. beagle is 8 km ². The two known localities where the species is found are experiencing severe anthropogenic degradation from mining, deforestation for cattle pasture, road construction, and small-scale damming (more severely so in the Ribeirão Barreiras locality). Efforts to locate specimens in other regional localities were unsuccessful so far. Given the restricted area of occupancy and the ongoing or inferred habitat decline, T. beagle can be provisionally classified as Endangered (EN) according to IUCN criteria B2ab(iii) (IUCN Standards and Petitions Subcommittee, 2022). As a relictual species belonging to a phylogenetically basal lineage ( Trichogenes ), its conservation has a higher priority (Stianssny & de Pinna, 1994). The previous, practically non-existing, record of T. beagle in fish collections, along with a lack of Trichogenes representatives anywhere else in the relatively well-sampled Rio Doce basin, suggest that T. beagle might be a relictual species, currently clinging to its last encroached strongholds. Further studies on the species distribution and ecology are urgently needed and conservation efforts should focus on immediate protection of currently known populations and associated remnant natural forest patches.

Material examined

Trichogenes beagle

MZUSP 125019 (holotype), 35.5 mm SL, no data; MZUSP 124888 (paratypes), 2, 32.7–37.9 mm SL, 1 (c&s) 37.9 mm SL, supposedly collected with holotype. The following all from Brazil, Minas Gerais State, municipality of Guanhães, Rio Doce basin: MCNIP 4984, 15, 19.7–82.9 mm SL, headwaters of Córrego Canastra , tributary to Ribeirão Graipu , itself right-margin tributary to Rio Corrente Grande , 18º51’34.69”S, 42º55’02.71”W, col. I. C. Marques, S. A. Santos, T. C. Pessali, 3 Jan 2024; MCNIP 4986, 3, 19.4–68.5 mm SL, unnamed stream tributary of Ribeirão Barreiras, leftmargin tributary to Rio Guanhães, itself tributary to Rio Santo Antônio , within impact area of Serra Leste Mineração , 18º52’07.22”S, 42º53’31.75”W, col. I. C. C. Marques, 28 Dec 2023; MCNIP 4987 (mol material), 3, 15.7–64.5 mm SL, same data as MCNIP 4986; MCNIP 5348, 18, 18.4–65.4 mm SL, headwaters of Córrego Canastra, tributary to Ribeirão Graipu, itself right-margin tributary to Rio Corrente Grande , 18º51’34.69”S, 42º55’02.71”W, col. T. C. Pessali, G. C. Berger, 24 Aug 2024; MZUSP 130390, 5, 37.7–70.0 mm SL and 9 mol, ca.23.0– 60.6 mm SL (ex-MCNIP 4985), same data as MCNIP 4984; MZUSP 130391, 13, 15.7–63.1 mm SL, headwaters of Córrego Canastra, tributary to Ribeirão Graipu, itself right-margin tributary to Rio Corrente Grande , 18º51’34.69”S, 42º55’02.68”W, col. I. C. Marques, G. Schuchter, 20 Sep 2022; MZUSP 130392, 7, 12.7–75.0 mm SL, same locality as MZUSP 130391, col. I. C. Marques, C. Cordeiro, 4 Jan 2023; ZUEC 18328, 7, 33.5–72.2 mm SL, same data as MCNIP 5348.