Parastegophilus

{{Short description|Genus of fishes}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| taxon = Parastegophilus

| authority = Miranda-Ribeiro, 1946

| type_species = Stegophilus maculatus

| type_species_authority = Steindachner, 1879

| subdivision_ranks =

| subdivision =

}}

Parastegophilus is a genus of pencil catfishes native to South America.

Species

There are currently two recognized species in this genus:{{FishBase genus | genus = Parastegophilus| month = February | year = 2012}}

P. maculatus originates from the lower Paraná and Uruguay River basins in Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay, while P. paulensis is from the upper Paraná River basin in Brazil.{{cite journal|url=http://silurus.acnatsci.org/ACSI/library/biblios/2007_Ferraris_Catfish_Checklist.pdf|title=Checklist of catfishes, recent and fossil (Osteichthyes: Siluriformes), and catalogue of siluriform primary types|first=Carl J. Jr.|last=Ferraris|journal=Zootaxa|volume=1418|pages=1–628|year=2007|doi=10.11646/zootaxa.1418.1.1 }} Parastegophilus species grow to about {{convert|5.4|-|6.0|cm|in|abbr=off}} in length.{{FishBase|genus=Parastegophilus|species=maculatus|year=2007|month=July}}{{FishBase|genus=Parastegophilus|species=paulensis|year=2007|month=July}} P. maculatus enters the gill chamber of the catfish Luciopimelodus pati and feeds on the gills.

References