The identity of the South American catfish Loricaria cataphracta Linnaeus, 1758, with redescriptions of the original type specimens of four other nominal Loricaria species (Pisces, Siluriformes, Loricariidae)

This article contains figures and descriptions of Loricaria cataphracta Linnaeus, 1758, sensu stricto (neotype), Loricaria cirrhosa Bloch & Schneider, 1801 [identical with L. cataphracta] (lectotype and paralectotype), Loricaria flagellaris (Gronovius, 1854) (holotype), Loricaria carinata de Castelnau, 1855 (holotype), and Loricaria lata Eigenmann & Eigenmann, 1889, sensu stricto (lectotype and paralectotypes, in part). Another part of the paralectotype series of Loricaria lata represents another species, described but not named below, which eventually may prove not to belong to the genus Loricaria. The ultimate status of L. flagellaris and of L. carinata remains uncertain, there being too few additional data. In addition to L. cirrhosa, L. setifera Lacépède, 1803, L. setigera Valenciennes, 1836, and L. dura Bleeker, 1862 [ex-Linnaeus, 1754], are accepted as synonyms of L. cataphracta.