Loricaria is a genus of whiptail catfishes in the family Loricariidae, subfamily Loricariinae, distributed across tropical and subtropical South America. The atlas's records span Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Colombia, French Guiana, Guyana, Bolivia, and Paraguay, covering major drainages from the Amazon and Orinoco south into the Rio de la Plata system. Like its relatives Farlowella and Rineloricaria, Loricaria has an extremely elongated, dorsoventrally flattened body and a long tapering tail, an armored plating of bony scutes, and a ventral sucker-mouth adapted for grazing algae and biofilm from submerged wood, rock, and leaf litter in slow to moderate current. The atlas covers 21 species with a wide adult size range, from about 3 in up to a substantial 14.5 in in the largest species, making Loricaria noticeably bigger-bodied on average than the closely related Farlowella.
In the hobby, Loricaria species are kept much like other whiptail catfish -- peaceful, algae-grazing bottom dwellers that do best in mature tanks with driftwood, moderate flow, and good water quality; their size means some species outgrow the smaller planted setups favored by Otocinclus or Farlowella. Breeding is documented for several species: as in other Loricariinae, males develop bristle-like odontodes on the cheeks and snout during breeding condition and take on parental duties, guarding the eggs after spawning. Conservation status is reasonably favorable for most of the genus -- the bulk of assessed species are Least Concern -- though it also includes at least one Critically Endangered and one Endangered species, a reminder that individual Loricaria ranges can be narrow even within a widespread genus.