Rhinotocinclus hardmani

Rhinotocinclus hardmani
Conservation status
Vulnerable  (IUCN 3.1) [1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Siluriformes
Family:	Loricariidae
Genus:	Rhinotocinclus
Species:	R. hardmani
Binomial name
Rhinotocinclus hardmani (Lehmann A., Lujan & Reis, 2022)
Synonyms
Parotocinclus hardmani

Rhinotocinclus hardmani is a species of catfish in the family Loricariidae. It is native to South America, where it occurs in tributaries of the Potaro River, which is part of the Essequibo River basin in Guyana. It was described in February of 2022 by Pablo Lehmann A., Nathan K. Lujan, and Roberto E. Reis on the basis of its distinctive morphology. It is believed to be closely related to its congeners Rhinotocinclus collinsae and R. halbothi . The species reaches at least 2.43 cm (0.96 in) in standard length. ^[2]

Etymology

The fish is named in honor of British ichthyologist Michael Hardman (b. 1978), a former technician at the Center for Biodiversity, Illinois Natural History Survey in Champaign, Illinois, USA, who collected specimens in 1998 and first recognized this species was undescribed. ^[3]

In July 2022, it was determined that Parotocinclus hardmani and multiple other species from the genera Parotocinclus , Curculionichthys , and Hisonotus should be classified in a different genus altogether, designated as Rhinotocinclus, although many sources do not yet follow this classification. ^[4]

References

1. Taphorn, D.C.; Rodríguez-Olarte, D. (2024). "Rhinotocinclus hardmani". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2024: e.T224023475A224023632. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2024-1.RLTS.T224023475A224023632.en . Retrieved 2 September 2025.
2. Lehmann A. Pablo; Lujan, Nathan; Reis, Roberto (2022). "A New Species of Armored Catfish (Loricariidae: Hypoptopomatinae) Syntopic and Superficially Similar to Parotocinclus collinsae, from the Potaro River Basin, Guyana". Ichthyology & Herpetology. 110. doi:10.1643/i2021065.
3. Christopher Scharpf & Kenneth J. Lazara (22 September 2018). "Family LORICARIIDAE: Subfamily HYPOPTOPOMATINAE Eigenmann & Eigenmann 1890 (Cascudinhos)". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 30 November 2024.
4. Reis, Roberto; Lehmann A., Pablo. (2022). "A new genus of armored catfish (Siluriformes: Loricariidae) from the Greater Amazon, with a review of the species and description of five new species". Neotropical Ichthyology. 20 (2) e220002. doi: 10.1590/1982-0224-2022-0002 .