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Hypoptopoma

genus of fishes

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMay 21, 2026
Entity authorityQ5023733
Source-derived summary

Hypoptopoma is a genus of freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Loricariidae, the mailed catfishes, and the subfamily Hypoptopomatinae, the cascudinhos. The catfishes in this genus are found in South America.

Taxonomy

Hypoptopoma was first proposed as a monospecific genus in 1868 by the German-born British ichthyologist and herpetologist Albert Günther when he described Hypoptopoma thoracatum. Günther gave H. thoracatum's type locality as Xeberos in the upper Amazon of Peru. This genus is the type genus of the subfamily Hypoptopomatinae, which is classified in family Loricariidae in the Neotropical catfish suborder Loricarioidei.

Species

Hypoptopoma contains the following valid species:

Hypoptopoma baileyi Aquino & Schaefer, 2010

Hypoptopoma bianale Aquino & Schaefer, 2010

Hypoptopoma brevirostratum Aquino & Schaefer, 2010

Hypoptopoma elongatum Aquino & Schaefer, 2010

Hypoptopoma guianense Boeseman, 1974

Hypoptopoma gulare Cope, 1878

Hypoptopoma incognitum Aquino & Schaefer, 2010

Hypoptopoma inexspectatum (Holmberg, 1893)

Hypoptopoma machadoi Aquino & Schaefer, 2010

Hypoptopoma muzuspi Aquino & Schaefer, 2010

Hypoptopoma psilogaster Fowler, 1915

Hypoptopoma steindachneri Boulenger, 1895

Hypoptopoma thoracatum Günther, 1868

Distribution

Hypoptopoma species inhabit the drainage basins to the east of the Andes, except for river systems draining to the Atlantic between the mouth of the Amazon River in Brazil and the Paraná River in Argentina.

References

Further reading

Aquino, A. E.; Schaefer, S. A. (2010). "Systematics of the genus Hypoptopoma Günther, 1868 (Siluriformes, Loricariidae)" (PDF). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 336: 1–110.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Hypoptopoma” is genus of fishes. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Hypoptopoma, genus and fishes, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA sound reference starting point where classification, measurement and the date of the underlying evidence remain visible. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1868, 2010, 1974, 1878—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. For this dossier, Hypoptopoma, genus and fishes is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “genus of fishes” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5023733. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1868, 2010, 1974 and 1878.

Critical limits

Current terminology should not be projected backward without checking the classification used when the underlying evidence was created. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Check terminology, classification and the date of the cited evidence. Scientific names and technical consensus can change while older records retain historical value.

Best used for
  • Current terminology
  • Classification context
  • Finding cited technical literature
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Primary datasets, specimen catalogues, standards bodies and the most recent peer-reviewed literature.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Hypoptopoma”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Hypoptopoma primary sources, Hypoptopoma archive and Hypoptopoma research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Hypoptopoma”?
  2. Has classification or technical consensus changed since the cited source?
  3. Is the terminology current, historical or disputed?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Hypoptopoma” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.