So, I got curious: As I learned, Rudolph Kner first described Ancistrus dolichopterus in 1854 (actually, it was presented at a meeting on March 3, 1853): https://archive.org/details/diehypostomidenz00kner/page/n1/mode/2up
He prefaced his section on A. dolichopterus by saying that the species looks remarkably like A. cirrhosus and they could just be "varieties" of each other. A. cirrhosus was first described in field notes by the brothers Joseph and Johann Natterer. Their last name makes the heart of every one of us who has kept piranhas, beat a little faster. Natterer described A. cirrhosus body, belly, and fins as "very dark olive-brown or black-brown with tiny, bright yellow dots that are tightly together." "Fin colors are borderlining on violett". Natterer found the fish in Rio braneo und Rio Guapore in Matogrosso. A male was 6.3'' (body without tailfin), the smallest female was 3.5''
Regardless Kner's prior statement that A. dolichopterus resembles A. cirrhosus, Kner describes A. dolichopterus as "homogeneously brown, with breast and belly in a lighter brown with brown dots. Only the male shows tiny lighter dots in the center, the entire belly, head, back, and tail". He found the fish at Barra do Rio negro. The fish were between 4-5''.
A. dolichopterus (holotype)
Sonia Fisch-Muller then reinvestigated for her 1999 dissertation (Systématique du genre Ancistrus Kner (Teleostei, Loricariidae): approches morphologique et génétique. Université de Genève), and based on morphology and genetics she renamed them. The dissertation was never published, which brings this to a cold end. Until she publsihed in the Check List of the Freshwater Fishes of South and Central America by Roberto E. Reis in 2003, but I can't seem to find any additional insights there.
FWIW, neither Natterer not Kner nor Fisch-Muller said anything about the white seams on dorsal and tail fin.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service published this as recent as 2018, and they have read and cite Fisch-Muller's work.
Certainly a lot of uncertainty here
I wished Kner and the Natterers had had color photography - then we'd know for sure
He prefaced his section on A. dolichopterus by saying that the species looks remarkably like A. cirrhosus and they could just be "varieties" of each other. A. cirrhosus was first described in field notes by the brothers Joseph and Johann Natterer. Their last name makes the heart of every one of us who has kept piranhas, beat a little faster. Natterer described A. cirrhosus body, belly, and fins as "very dark olive-brown or black-brown with tiny, bright yellow dots that are tightly together." "Fin colors are borderlining on violett". Natterer found the fish in Rio braneo und Rio Guapore in Matogrosso. A male was 6.3'' (body without tailfin), the smallest female was 3.5''
Regardless Kner's prior statement that A. dolichopterus resembles A. cirrhosus, Kner describes A. dolichopterus as "homogeneously brown, with breast and belly in a lighter brown with brown dots. Only the male shows tiny lighter dots in the center, the entire belly, head, back, and tail". He found the fish at Barra do Rio negro. The fish were between 4-5''.
A. dolichopterus (holotype)
Sonia Fisch-Muller then reinvestigated for her 1999 dissertation (Systématique du genre Ancistrus Kner (Teleostei, Loricariidae): approches morphologique et génétique. Université de Genève), and based on morphology and genetics she renamed them. The dissertation was never published, which brings this to a cold end. Until she publsihed in the Check List of the Freshwater Fishes of South and Central America by Roberto E. Reis in 2003, but I can't seem to find any additional insights there.
FWIW, neither Natterer not Kner nor Fisch-Muller said anything about the white seams on dorsal and tail fin.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service published this as recent as 2018, and they have read and cite Fisch-Muller's work.
Certainly a lot of uncertainty here
I wished Kner and the Natterers had had color photography - then we'd know for sure
