Lithogenes is a small genus of armored catfish in family Loricariidae, but an unusual one - it sits near the base of the loricariid family tree and retains several primitive features that make it a reference point in studies of how the group's bony armor and sucker-mouth evolved. The atlas records it from Venezuela and Guyana, largely from streams and waterfalls associated with the tepui highlands of the Guiana Shield, and its three species - Lithogenes valencia, L. villosus, and L. wahari - are small, running 1.5–3 in.
The climbing pleco (L. villosus) is the species most discussed outside pure taxonomy, known for using its pelvic fins to haul itself up wet, near-vertical rock faces beside waterfalls - a striking behavioral parallel to the unrelated, more famous climbing catfish Astroblepus of Andean streams. None of the three is an established aquarium species; what is known comes largely from field and phylogenetic research rather than husbandry. The conservation picture is mixed: alongside a Data Deficient and a Not Evaluated species, at least one atlas species in this small, geographically narrow genus carries an Endangered rating.