Harttia
Harttia is a genus of freshwater ray-finned fish is a species of freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Loricariidae, the mailed catfishes, and the subfamily Loricariinae, the armored suckermouth catfishes. The species in this genus are founsd in South America.
Etymology
The genus name comes from Charles [Frederick Hartt], a geologist, paleontologist and naturalist, who collected the many specimens during the Thayer Expedition to Brazil in the years 1865–1866.Taxonomy
As of 1997, Harttia was considered a monophyletic taxon. However, Harttia is in need of revision. For example, the synonymy of Cteniloricaria with Harttia was questionable because it rested solely on the characteristics of Harttia fowleri without considering the type species of Cteniloricaria.Species
Harttia contains the following recognized species:Distribution and habitat
Distribution of Harttia species primarily includes rivers draining the Guyana Shield, coastal rivers in northeastern Brazil, and the Amazon River basin. The greatest species diversity of Harttia, occurs in the Pre-Cambrian Brazilian Shield region. Only H. platystoma and H. merevari are known from Venezuela. These rheophilic fishes are found in the upper courses of rivers over rocky and sandy bottoms. Harttia species are thought to be able to exploit areas with the strongest current, because of its extremely depressed body and long caudal peduncle, comparing to other species.Description
includes hypertrophied odontodes on the pectoral fin spines and along the margins of the snout in mature males.Harttia exhibits considerable karyotypic diversity with chromosome numbers between 2n = 52 and 2n = 58 in the four species characterized.