A New Species of Curculionichthys (Siluriformes: Loricariidae) from the Saramacca and Marowijne River Basins, Suriname and French Guiana

A new species of Curculionichthys is described from the Saramacca and Marowijne (=Maroni) River basins in Suriname and French Guiana, eastern Guiana Shield. The new species possesses five of the seven diagnostic characteristics of the genus with the most remarkable morphological trait that distinguishes it from congeners being the presence of a single rostral plate. A genetic comparison with C. karipuna, the geographically closest species, showed a minimal distance of 5% in gene coI between individuals of the two species. The geographic distribution further extends the distribution of the genus across the Guiana Shield and represents the first species of the genus described from outside Brazil.