Two new species of Sternarchorhynchus Castelnau from the Amazon Basin, Brazil (Gymnotiformes: Apteronotidae)

Abstract

Two new species of ghost knifefishes are described from the waterfalls and rapids of the Rio Mucajaí at the Cachoeira Paredão 2, Amazon basin in Roraima state, Brazil. Sternarchorhynchus severii, new species, is diagnosed from all congeners on the basis of body coloration, meristics and morphological characters such as white or yellow pigments along head and mid-dorsum forming long pale stripe, number of total anal-fin rays, and body proportion. Sternarchorhynchus caboclo, new species, is distinguished from the other species by the hyoid arch with four branchiostegal rays and the posttemporal not fused with the supracleithrum. © 2006 by Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil.