Yet another new species is described in the rheophilic catfish genus Trichomycterus this week. T. argos is known from the Rio Doce watershed in the neotropical Atlantic rainforest of the Serra do Brigadeiro, Minas Gerais state, eastern Brazil.

The area is a national park and home to numerous endemic species although only around 5% of the original forest cover now remains.

The specific name argos literally translates as ‘a hundred-eyed monster’ and was chosen in reference to the colour pattern which comprises numerous eye-like spots rather than vermiculations. Its natural waters are quite cool with an average mean air temperature of 15°C which may drop below 0° during the coldest months, and it coexists alongside the congener T. alternatus.

It’s similar to various other members of the genus and separated from them by various characters or combinations of characters, depending on species,  most significantly possession of six branched pectoral-fin rays and an extended first pectoral-fin ray which is prolonged into a filament.

For further information see the paper: Queiroz Lezama, A., M. L. Triques, and P. S. Santos. 2012. Trichomycterus argos (Teleostei: Siluriformes: Trichomycteridae), a new species from the Doce River Basin, Eastern Brazil. Zootaxa 3352: 60-68, of which the abstract is available here.