''Aphanotorulus phrixosoma'' is a dubious species of catfish in the family Loricariidae. It is native to South America, where it occurs in the upper

Amazon River The Amazon River (, ; es, Río Amazonas, pt, Rio Amazonas) in South America is the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world, and the disputed longest river system in the world in comparison to the Nile. The headwaters of t ...

basin. The species reaches 10.1 cm (4 inches) SL. It is believed to be a facultative air-breather. ''A. phrixosoma'' was originally described as ''Plecostomus phrixosoma'' by

Henry Weed Fowler Henry Weed Fowler (March 23, 1878 – June 21, 1965) was an American zoologist born in Holmesburg, Pennsylvania. He studied at Stanford University under David Starr Jordan. He joined the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia and worked as ...

in 1940, although it was transferred to the genus '' Squaliforma'' (now considered invalid) after the genus' designation by I. J. H. Isbrücker, I. Seidel, J. Michels, E. Schraml, and A. Werner in 2001.Isbrucker, I., Seidel, I., Michels, J., Schraml, E., & Werner, A. (2001). Diagnose vierzehn neuer Gattungen der Familie Loricariidae Rafinesque, 1815 (Teleostei, Ostariophysi). In 2004, Jonathan W. Armbruster classified the species within '' Hypostomus'' instead of ''Squaliforma''. In 2016, following a review of '' Isorineloricaria'' and ''

Aphanotorulus ''Aphanotorulus'' is a genus of armored catfishes native to the Amazon, Orinoco, Essequibo and Jaguaribe basins in South America.Ray, C.K. & Armbruster, J.W. (2016): The genera ''Isorineloricaria'' and ''Aphanotorulus'' (Siluriformes: Loricar ...

'' by C. Keith Ray and Armbruster (both of

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...

), the species was reclassified as a member of ''Aphanotorulus'', although

FishBase FishBase is a global species database of fish species (specifically finfish). It is the largest and most extensively accessed online database on adult finfish on the web.

still lists the species as ''Squaliforma phrixosoma'' and lists ''Aphanotorulus phrixosoma'' as a synonym. ''A. phrixosoma'' is of questionable validity, as it is currently known only from a single specimen that is believed by Ray and Armbruster to be a

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...

between ''

Aphanotorulus horridus ''Aphanotorulus horridus'' is a species of catfish in the family Loricariidae. It is native to South America, where it occurs in the Madeira River basin. The species reaches 35.5 cm (14 inches) SL. It is thought to be a facultative air-breather. ...

'' and '' Aphanotorulus unicolor'', as it was collected in an area where ''A. horridus'' and ''A. unicolor'' are

sympatric In biology, two related species or populations are considered sympatric when they exist in the same geographic area and thus frequently encounter one another. An initially interbreeding population that splits into two or more distinct species sh ...

and extensive sampling efforts near the type locality have yielded no additional specimens.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q113576735 Loricariidae Fish described in 1940