Harttia is a genus of armored catfishes native to South America.

Etymology

The genus name comes from Charles Frederick Hartt (1840–1878), 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

There are currently 26 recognized species in this genus:

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

Sexual dimorphism 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.

Ecology

Representatives of this genus seem to be open brooders.