Phractura

Phractura
Phractura bovei
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Siluriformes
Family:	Amphiliidae
Subfamily:	Doumeinae
Genus:	Phractura Boulenger, 1900
Type species
Peltura bovei Perugia, 1892
Species
See text.
Synonyms
Peltura Perugia, 1892 (also used for a genus of trilobites) Paraphractura Boulenger, 1902

Phractura is a genus of loach catfishes (order Siluriformes) that occur in Africa.

Phractura species are elongated fish with a long caudal peduncle and bony scutes on the sides, back, and belly.,[1] this feature giving the genus its name from the Greek phraktos, which means enclosed and oura which means tail.[2] Phractura species are often associated with vegetation.[1] The genus was originally given the name Peltura but this name was preoccupied by a genus of trilobites which the name Peltura had been applied to by Louis Agassiz in 1846.[3] Phractura species, like other genera in Doumeinae, have a mouth modified into a suckermouth that allows it to clean to the objects and scrape the surface of the substrate.[4]

Species

There are currently 13 recognized species in this genus:[5]

• Phractura ansorgii Boulenger, 1902 (African whiptailed catfish)
• Phractura bovei Perugia, 1892
• Phractura brevicauda Boulenger, 1911
• Phractura clauseni Daget & Stauch, 1963
• Phractura fasciata Boulenger, 1920
• Phractura gladysae Pellegrin, 1931
• Phractura intermedia Boulenger, 1911
• Phractura lindica Boulenger, 1902
• Phractura longicauda Boulenger, 1903
• Phractura macrura Poll, 1967
• Phractura scaphyrhynchura Vaillant, 1886
• Phractura stiassny Skelton, 2007[6]
• Phractura tenuicauda Boulenger, 1902

References

1. Skelton, Paul H. (1992). "Amphiliidae" (PDF). Faune des poissons d'eaux douces et saumâtres d'Afrique de l'Ouest (in French). Vol. Tome 2. Musée Royal de l'Afrique Centrale, Tervuren, Belgique and O.R.S.T.O.M., Paris, France, 902. pp. 450–467.
2. "Summary of Phractura". PlabetCatish.com. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
3. Carl J. Ferraris Jr. (2007). "Checklist of catfishes, recent and fossil (Osteichthyes: Siluriformes), and catalogue of siluriform primary types" (PDF). Zootaxa. 1418: 1–625. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.1418.1.1.
4. Diogo, Rui; Oliveira, Claudia; Chardon, Michel (January 2000). "On the anatomy and function of the cephalic structures in Phractura (Siluriformes: Amphiliidae), with comments on some striking homoplasies occurring between the Doumeinae and some loricaroid catfishes" (PDF). Belg. J. Zool. 130 (1): 117–130.
5. Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Species in genus Phractura". FishBase. December 2011 version.
6. Skelton, Paul H. (2007). "New species of the amphiliid catfish genera Amphilius, Doumea and Phractura and the taxonomy of Paramphilius from West Central Africa (Siluriformes, Amphiliidae)" (PDF). Zootaxa. 1578: 41–68. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.1578.1.2.