THE CATFISHES OF VBNEZUEI^ SCHULTZ 335 



SPATULORICARIA PHELPSI, new species 



Plate 14 



Holotype.— U.S. N.M. No. 121121, the only known specimen, 338 

 mm. in standard length, was collected by Leonard P. Schultz, February 

 24, 1942, in the Rio Socuy 3 km. above its mouth, Maracaibo Basin, 

 Venezuela. 



Description. — Based on the holotype, aU measurements expressed 

 in hundredths of the standard length, which is 338 mm. 



Length of head to tip of supraoccipital 23.3; length of head to end 

 of opercle 18.8; length of head to rear edge of the posttemporal plate 

 23.8; width of head at base of pectorals 19.5; length of snout 13.1; 

 diameter of eye 3.50; least width of bony interorbital space 5.59; great- 

 est depth of body at origin of dorsal fin 13.6; width of body across anal 

 fin origin 16.7; postorbital (from notch in eye) length of head (to end 

 of posttemporal plate) 8.90; least depth of caudal peduncle 1.80; 

 width of caudal peduncle (third from last plate) 4.88; length of caudal 

 peduncle or distance from base of last anal ray to midbase of caudal fin 

 4.76; length of last ray of pectoral 9.26; length of last ray of pelvics 

 10.5; length of last ray of anal 11.9; length of last ray of dorsal 10.4; 

 length of spine of dorsal fin 25.6; length of spine of anal fin 17.9; 

 length of pelvic spine 17.9; length of pectoral spine 20.3; distance from 

 tip of snout to origin of dorsal fin 34.2; tip of snout to origin of anal 

 48.2; tip of snout to insertion of pelvics 32.6; tip of snout to insertion 

 of pectorals 18.8; distance from anus to anal origin 9.32. 



The following counts were made: Dorsal rays I, 7; anal I, 5; pec- 

 toral I, 6; pelvic I, 5; caudal i-f-lO+i; plates along sides 19+12, 

 totaling 31 ; 18 plates behind anal fin base, counting as number one the 

 plate containing last anal ray; teeth 4/5 and 6/6 on each ramus of jaws; 

 about 26 barbels on margin of lower lip. 



Color in alcohol pale brownish gray, yellowish on lower sides; all 

 fins evenly brownish in color, except the caudal fin which shows some 

 traces of bars; distally the fins are darker in color; peritoneum pale, 

 almost without pigment. 



Remarks. — This new genus and species differs from all other mem- 

 bers of the related genus Loricaria in its spoon-shaped teeth, four to 

 six in number. 



Named phelpsi in honor of William H. Phelps, Jr., president of the 

 Sociedad Venezolana de Ciencias Naturales of Caracas, a leader in 

 the biological sciences of Venezuela, in appreciation of his aid while I 

 was in Caracas. 



Genus FARLOWELLA Eigenmann and Eigenmann 



Farlowella Eigenmann and Eigenmann, Proc. California Acad. Sci., ser. 2, vol. 2, 

 p. 32, 1889. (Type Acestra acus Kner.) 



