Loricariidae

Loricariidae is the largest family of catfish, with over 90 genera and just over 680 species. Loricariids originate from freshwater habitats of Costa Rica, Panama, and tropical and subtropical South America. These fish are noted for the bony plates covering their bodies and their suckermouths. Several genera are sold as "plecos", notably the suckermouth catfish, Hypostomus plecostomus, and are popular as aquarium fish.

Loricariidae

Ckf6412 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
LoricarioideiPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Siluriformes
Life habit
nektobenthicPBDB, for Siluriformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Siluriformes
Environment
freshwaterPBDB, for Siluriformes

Time the record covers

At least 37 million years on record.

The record covers at least 37.71 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 48.07 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Eocene — about 1 of 17 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 4 of 17 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 9 of 17 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 1 of 17 occurrencesPleistocene — about 2 of 17 occurrences49–47 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences47–46 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences42–41 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences41–39 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences39–38 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences33–31 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences31–29 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences28–26 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences15–13 Mya — about 1 occurrence13–11 Mya — about 2 occurrences11–9.8 Mya — about 2 occurrences9.8–8.2 Mya — about 1 occurrence8.2–6.5 Mya — about 1 occurrence6.5–4.9 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences4.9–3.3 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences3.3–1.6 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences1.6–0 Mya — about 2 occurrences37.71 Mya129 ka49 Mya0 Mya

17 occurrences of Loricariidae on record, most of them in the Miocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

17 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

8 formations

Pebas — 7.36°S, 74.96°WPebas — 3.74°S, 73.25°WPozo — 7.33°S, 74.97°WPozo — 6.58°S, 76.28°WVillavieja — 3.22°N, 75.14°WVillavieja — 3.26°N, 75.19°WPuerto Madryn — 42.78°S, 63.68°WTremembé — 22.83°S, 45.87°WChambira — 7.32°S, 74.93°WSan Gregorio — 11.30°N, 70.24°WLuján — 34.27°S, 60.23°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Loricariidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 1 occurrence has no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Loricariidae and its relatives

Miocene

Where Loricariidae and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

269 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 15 sites for Loricariidae, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

10 references

Each of the 17 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Loricariidae

Credit
Ckf6412
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Loricariidae indet. · Vouchered object contributed by MorphoVert Lab

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itLoricarioidei through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gill 1872