A new species of copionodon representing a relictual occurrence of the copionodontinae (Siluriformes: Trichomycteridae), with a CT-SCAN imaging survey of key subfamilial features

Abstract

A new species of the Copionodontinae genus Copionodon is described from the riacho do Mosquito, tributary to rio Santo Antônio, rio Paraguaçu basin in the Diamantina Plateau, Bahia State, northeastern Brazil. This species represents the norther-nmost occurrence of the subfamily yet known and is a relictual population, apparently restricted to an underground sector of the stream and its immediate downstream exit. The new species can be readily recognized by the combination of the presence of opercular odontodes, the mostly uniform coloration of the body, and the lack of a free orbital rim. Despite several troglo-morphic traits shared between the new species and Glaphyropoma spinosum, the two species are not closest relatives and all such similarities are convergent adaptations to the subterranean habitat. A CT-Scan study of the holotype of the new species is presented and allows a view into the details of copionodontine anatomy with unprecedented clarity.