Aspidoras velites, a new catfish from the upper Rio Araguaia Basin, Brazil (Teleostei: Siluriformes: Callichthyidae)

Aspidoras velites, from the upper Rio Araguaia basin (Rio Tocantins drainage) in Central Brazil, is described. The new taxon is an unusual corydoradine species, showing several reductive features, and resembling in external morphology and coloration the loricariid hypoptopomatine catfishes. The new species differs from its congeners by a naked predorsal area, the first pectoral-fin element not modified as a spine, a weak dorsal spine, minute vermiculate platelets on the ventral surface between the isthmus and pelvic regions, a short narrow posterior process of supraoccipital, and the presence of three longitudinal dark stripes. Some of the features presented above are reductive, possibly indicating that the new species is paedomorphic.