Abstract
The Loricarioidea is the largest monophyletic group of catfishes endemic to the Neotropics with about 1,412 valid species assigned to six family-level taxa: Astroblepidae (61 species), Callichthyidae (200 species), Loricariidae (870 species), Nematogenyidae (1 species), Scoloplacidae (6 species) and Trichomycteridae (273 species). Loricarioid fishes are widely distributed throughout fresh…