Pseudoplatystoma is a genus of several South American catfish species of family Pimelodidae. The species are known by a number of different common names. They typically inhabit major rivers where they prefer the main channels and tend to stay at maximum depth, but some species can also be seen in lakes, flooded forests, and other freshwater habitats. They have robust bodies, and are important food fish. Recently, their population size has been on the drastic decline due to a variety of factors including overfishing and habitat destruction due to the construction of hydroelectric dams.
Common names
In their native waters, these fish may be called surubí in Guaraní. Specially in Paraguay- a country that still speaks both Spanish and Guaraní- This name is also used in some Spanish-speaking countries and in Brazil (surubi or surubim). In Peruvian Spanish, they are called doncella or zúngaro. P. corruscans may be called moleque or pintado. They often are referred to in the vernacular as bagre rayado/rajado or pintadillo/pintado (tiger catfish or tiger–shovelnose). P. corruscans, P. fasciatum, and P. tigrinum are also known as spotted sorubim, barred sorubim, and tiger sorubim, respectively. This genus contains the fish commonly known as the tiger shovelnose catfish in the aquarium hobby, though the species in this genus are relatively easy to confuse.
Taxonomy
Pseudoplatystoma is a monophyletic assemblage of catfishes. P. fasciatum was the first species to be described, under the name Siluris fasciatus. In 1829, P. corruscans was described under the name Platystoma corruscans, and over a decade later, P. tigrinum was described as Platystoma tigrinum. In 1862, Pseudoplatystoma was described and these species transferred to it, with P. fasciatum as type species.
Unrecognized species of Pseudoplatystoma have been included under the names P. fasciatum and P. tigrinum for decades. This genus traditionally contained only three species until 2007; currently, eight species are in this genus. P. orinocoense, P. magdaleniatum, and P. reticulatum were formerly recognized as P. fasciatum, but are now recognized as distinct species. P. metaense is also now recognized as a distinct species from P. tigrinum.
Two clades are recognized within the genus. One is the P. fasciatum clade which includes P. fasciatum, P. orinocoense, P. magdaleniatum, P. reticulatum, and P. corruscans. Within this clade, P. fasciatum and P. punctifer are sister species, and P. orinocoense is sister to the clade formed by these two species. The other, the P. tigrinum clade, includes only P. tigrinum and P. metaense. They are differentiated by anatomical characters.
The intergeneric relationships of this genus are well established. It forms a monophyletic group with Sorubim, Sorubimichthys, Hemisorubim, and Zungaro. Of these genera, Hemisorubim is most closely related to Pseudoplatystoma.
Species
The currently recognized species in this genus include: Pseudoplatystoma corruscans (Spix & Agassiz, 1829) (spotted sorubim) Pseudoplatystoma fasciatum (Linnaeus, 1766) (barred sorubim) Pseudoplatystoma magdaleniatum Buitrago-Suárez & Burr, 2007 Pseudoplatystoma metaense Buitrago-Suárez & Burr, 2007 Pseudoplatystoma orinocoense Buitrago-Suárez & Burr, 2007 Pseudoplatystoma punctifer (Castelnau, 1855) Pseudoplatystoma reticulatum (Eigenmann & Eigenmann, 1889) (barred sorubim) Pseudoplatystoma tigrinum (Valenciennes, 1840) (tiger sorubim)
Distribution and habitat
The distribution of Pseudoplatystoma species includes the great river basins of South America: the Amazon, Orinoco, Paraná, São Francisco, Magdalena, Rupununi, Essequibo, and Suriname Rivers. They can also be found in the Cuiabá river, located in the Brazilian State of Mato Grosso.They have not been reported from river basins draining into the Pacific. P. fasciatum inhabits the Guyana region, including the Essequibo and Suriname Rivers and their tributaries, in Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana. P. tigrinum is found in the Amazon River in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. P. corruscans originates from the Paraná and São Francisco Rivers in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. P. orinocoense is named for and endemic to the Orinoco River of Venezuela. P. metaense is distributed in the Orinoco River in Colombia and Venezuela; it is named for the Meta River, the type locality, a tributary of the Orinoco River. P. magdaleniatum is named for and endemic to the Magdalena River drainage, including the Cauca River of Colombia. P. reticulatum inhabits the central Amazon and Paraná Rivers in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.