| Plectrochilus | |
|---|---|
| |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Siluriformes |
| Family: | Trichomycteridae |
| Subfamily: | Vandelliinae |
| Genus: | Plectrochilus A. Miranda-Ribeiro, 19171 |
| Type species | |
| Plectrochilus machadoi Miranda Ribeiro, 19171
| |
Plectrochilus is a genus of freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Trichomycteridae, the pencil and parasitic catfishes, and the subfamily Vandelliinae, the haematophagic catfishes. The catfishes in this genus are found in South America.
Species
Plectrochilus contains the following valid species:2
- Plectrochilus diabolicus (Myers, 1927)
- Plectrochilus machadoi A. Miranda Ribeiro, 1917
- Plectrochilus wieneri (Pellegrin, 1909)
P. diabolicus and P. machadoi are found in the Amazon River basin in Brazil and Peru, while P. wieneri is found in the Napo River basin of Ecuador.3
P. diabolicus grows to 4.8 centimetres (1.9 in) SL.4 P. machadoi grows to 9.3 cm (3.7 in).5
Specimens of P. machadoi have been found partially buried in the belly of a specimen of Pseudoplatystoma where it apparently had burrowed through the body wall.5
References
References
- Fricke, Ron; Eschmeyer, William N. & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Vendellinae". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 28 November 2025.
- Fricke, Ron; Eschmeyer, William N. & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Plectrochilus". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 28 November 2025.
- Ferraris, Carl J. Jr. (2007). "Checklist of catfishes, recent and fossil (Osteichthyes: Siluriformes), and catalogue of siluriform primary types" (PDF). Zootaxa. 1418: 1–628. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.1418.1.1.
- Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Plectrochilus diabolicus". FishBase. July 2007 version.
- Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Plectrochilus machadoi". FishBase. July 2007 version.