Plecs

[Doggfather]

Hey guys, i just have a couple of questions about plecs i hope somebody knows the answer too (looking at pauls and the minions ). If possible would you guys be able to tell me how the genus's Peckoltia and Panaque differ from the genus of all the other plecs? I'm filling in an application to allow Leopard frog plecs, royals and clowns to be imported into the country, and this is one of the questions.

Thanks for your help

 

[SirMinion]

Crikey, that's a difficult question!

Ok, As you no doubt know, Clown & LF plecs are peckoltia and of course Royals are panaque.

What makes then panaque or peckoltia and not one of the other 68 genera from the loricariidae family such as panaquolus, hypancistrus or hypostomus is a number of factors such as habit, habitat, & size, right down to tiny details such as shape of teeth, number of spines in the fins and even placement of body plating.

I don't think that there one major feature that means you could say "This is a Panaque because ****** "

I shall do more research....

**edit**
Ok, found this so far, but it's not much help!

It seems that there are currently around 550 species of 'pleco' in about 70 genera within the Loricariidae family.

Each of these genera has it's own selection of species, some have hundreds, such as Hypostomus and some, like Metaloricaria, only have a couple.

The genus Panaque currently has 10 confirmed species, and the genus Peckoltia has 9 (and one still undecided)

So know what are the characteristics a fish has to have to make it fit into either of these two genera rather than any of the other 68?

What is unique to a Panaque that maks it a Panaque?
What do Peckoltia have that no other genera have?

Google was no help so far.

I shall continue my research......

 

[SirMinion]

Ok, here's some info from The All catfish Species Inventory.

Panaque has been traditionally recognized on the basis of their large, spoon-shaped teeth.

and

Peckoltia defies a singular morphological description.
In general, the species look like Hypostomus with elongated, evertible cheek odontodes. Color pattern typically consists of a spotted head and fins and dark saddles or bars on a tan body (the bars may be somewhat broken giving a more mottled appearance) and the body is spotted in P. oligospila.
Three predorsal plates. Abdomen entirely covered in small plates. Five rows of plates on the caudal peduncle. The teeth are not specialized.
P. ucayalensis and P. arenaria (probably synonyms) have the most derived appearance; the eyes are lateral and low on the head and the abdominal plates are large making them look similar to Hypoptopoma of Hypoptopomatinae.

So there you have it.
In short, Panaque have large, spoonlike teeth, but Peckoltia have no single defining characteristic.

 

[Doggfather]

Sir minion, thank you for your help! it's very, very much appriciated! If this application is approved i wouldn't be able to thank you enough

Thanks again