Pseudoplatystoma is a genus of several South American catfish species of family Pimelodidae. The species are known by a number of different common names. They typically inhabit major rivers where they prefer the main channels and tend to stay at maximum depth, but some species can also be seen in lakes, flooded forests, and other freshwater habitats. They have robust bodies, and are important food fish.
Common names
In their native waters, these fish may be called surubí in Guaraní. This name is also used in some Spanish-speaking countries. In Peruvian Spanish, they are called doncella or zúngaro. P. corruscans may be called moleque or pintado. They often are referred to in the vernacular as bagre rayado or pintadillo (tiger catfish or tiger–shovelnose). P. corruscans, P. fasciatum, and P. tigrinum are also known as spotted sorubim, barred sorubim, and tiger sorubim, respectively. This genus contains the fish commonly known as the tiger shovelnose catfish in the aquarium hobby, though the species in this genus are relatively easy to confuse.
Taxonomy
Pseudoplatystoma is a monophyletic assemblage of catfishes. P. fasciatum was the first species to be described, under the name Siluris fasciatus.[4] In 1829, P. corruscans was described under the name Platystoma corruscans, and over a decade later, P. tigrinum was described as Platystoma tigrinum In 1862, Pseudoplatystoma was described and these species transferred to it, with P. fasciatum as type species.
Unrecognized species of Pseudoplatystoma have been included under the names P. fasciatum and P. tigrinum for decades. This genus traditionally contained only three species until 2007; currently, eight species are in this genus. P. orinocoense, P. magdaleniatum, and P. reticulatum were formerly recognized as P. fasciatum, but are now recognized as distinct species. P. metaense is also now recognized as a distinct species from P. tigrinum.
Two clades are recognized within the genus. One is the P. fasciatum clade which includes P. fasciatum, P. orinocoense, P. magdaleniatum, P. reticulatum, and P. corruscans. Within this clade, P. fasciatum and P. punctifer are sister species, and P. orinocoense is sister to the clade formed by these two species. The other, the P. tigrinum clade, includes only P. tigrinum and P. metaense. They are differentiated by anatomical characters.[2]
The intergeneric relationships of this genus are well established. It forms a monophyletic group with Sorubim, Sorubimichthys, Hemisorubim, and Zungaro. Of these genera, Hemisorubim is most closely related to Pseudoplatystoma.
