Lasiancistrus is a genus of suckermouth armored catfish (family Loricariidae, tribe Ancistrini alongside Ancistrus and its bristlenose relatives) from river drainages of northern and western South America and Panama - the brief's countries span Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, and Peru. Atlas species run 4.5–9.5 in, a solidly mid-sized loricariid build with the flattened head, ventral sucker mouth, and bony armor plating typical of the family, and males of several species carry the branching odontode fringes (bristles or tentacles) around the snout that give the genus part of its common handle.
The genus turns up in the specialist pleco trade mostly under its L-numbers rather than household names - L. saetiger as L322 and L. schomburgkii as L302 - alongside the Cauca whiskered pleco (L. caucanus) and the red-eyed deltatail pleco (L. heteracanthus); L. tentaculatus has a reputation among hobbyists as a genuine wood-eater, rasping at driftwood as part of its diet the way Panaque does. Care generally follows the loricariid template of driftwood, current, and a mixed algae/vegetable and protein diet. Conservation status is reassuring for a South American pleco genus: 5 of the 6 atlas species are assessed Least Concern, with only one Data Deficient.