Taxonomy & naming
Loricaria teteae was described by Ananda C. Serejo-Saraiva, Nivaldo M. Piorski, Felipe P. Ottoni, Mark H. Sabaj and Sergio M. Q. Lima in 2026, in the Journal of Fish Biology (volume 108, issue 6, pages 2080–2097), in the same integrative taxonomic study that described L. catirina from the neighbouring Munim basin. The work is registered in ZooBank under publication LSID urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:363E1F46-4FAC-49D3-9CD6-E969DE3FD47C, with the species-level act carrying LSID urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:16AFF78F-AA79-44BD-879A-174233646C3B.
Itapecuru-basin material had previously been listed under Loricaria cf. cataphracta or simply Loricaria cataphracta in regional species inventories (Piorski et al., 1998; Saraiva et al., 2021; Abreu et al., 2019). A linear discriminant analysis of 239 northeastern Loricaria specimens and a mitochondrial cox1 phylogeny, cross-checked with four species-delimitation methods (ABGD, ASAP, bPTP, GMYC), instead placed the Itapecuru population in a well-supported, reciprocally monophyletic clade together with L. parnahybae and L. catirina — distinct from true L. cataphracta, which the study shows is restricted to the Amazon basin and Guianas. Genetic (cox1, K2P) distances separate L. teteae by 2.2% from L. parnahybae, 3.0% from L. catirina, and 4.1% from L. turi.
The Catalog of Fishes (Eschmeyer, CAS) recognises Loricaria teteae Serejo-Saraiva, Piorski, Ottoni, Sabaj Pérez & Lima, 2026 as a valid species in the genus Loricaria Linnaeus, 1758, subfamily Loricariinae. The holotype is MNRJ 56151, a 7.41 in SL male collected 6 February 2013 from Povoado São Miguel, Rosário Municipality, Maranhão State, Brazil (03°00'30.6"S, 44°16'00.1"W), with paratypes deposited at CPUFMA.
Morphology
Loricaria teteae reaches at least 9.8 in standard length (SL) among examined specimens (n = 68, range 4.88–9.83 in SL; the 7.41 in SL holotype is a male), making it the larger of the two 2026 Maranhão Loricaria. It shows the standard loricariine whiptail form: an elongate, dorsoventrally depressed body, a long flattened caudal peduncle, and armour plating broken only by naked skin on the ventral head, the pelvic-fin base, and a V-shaped patch around the anus.
Its single most distinctive character among regional congeners is a pectoral girdle and median abdominal region fully covered by small, irregularly arranged dermal plates — a condition shared only with L. cataphracta, L. clavipinna, L. cuffyi, L. lata, L. nimairaco, L. piracicabae, L. thomasi and L. tucumanensis, and notably absent in the three other northeastern species (L. turi, L. parnahybae and its sister L. catirina), all of which have a partially naked pectoral girdle. The postorbital notch is well-developed and angular, in contrast to the shallow, rounded notch of L. catirina.
Total lateral plates number 32–35 (mode 33); anterior lateral plates 16–20 (mode 18); posterior lateral plates 14–17 (mode 15); post-anal plates 18–21 (mode 20). Premaxillary teeth are bicuspid, 2–4 per ramus, with 12–16 buccal papillae behind them in three rows. Body coloration in preserved specimens ranges from light to dark brown, the head slightly darker than the trunk; the dorsal fin carries a few scattered spots, the pectoral and pelvic fins several small spots, the anal fin is clear, and the caudal fin bears a conspicuous dark band along the distal margin of its rays. Smaller individuals show up to six faint transverse body bands that fade with growth, becoming more uniform in larger fish.
Habitat
Loricaria teteae is known only from the middle and lower Itapecuru River, Maranhão State, Brazil, a basin within the Cerrado biome that the authors place in the Amazon Estuary and Coastal Drainages ecoregion (Abell et al., 2008) — a freshwater, demersal (bottom-associated) fish per the Catalog of Fishes habitat designation. Specific water-chemistry data (temperature, pH, hardness) have not been published for the species.
The describing authors calculated an extent of occurrence of roughly 506 km2 for the known Itapecuru population, below IUCN thresholds for a threatened listing. The basin experiences documented anthropogenic pressure in its more urbanised reaches, including riparian-forest degradation and sewage pollution.
Feeding
No dietary study has been published for Loricaria teteae. As in other members of the genus, its fine bicuspid premaxillary and dentary teeth and dense fringing lip papillae point to a diet of biofilm, periphyton and fine organic detritus grazed from submerged surfaces with the ventral suctorial mouth. This is a genus-level inference, not a direct observation for this species.
Mating
The original description notes that sexual dimorphism in L. teteae matches that documented for L. catirina: males have a thicker pectoral-fin spine and teeth with smaller, rounded cusps, while females and juveniles carry longer, more pointed tooth cusps. No courtship behaviour has been observed or published for this species.
Breeding
No breeding data — wild or captive — have been published for Loricaria teteae, which has never been recorded in the aquarium trade. Like other Loricaria, the genus is broadly documented as practising lip-brooding, in which the male carries the fertilised egg mass adhered to an enlarged, pad-like lower lip until the fry hatch. This is a genus-level inference, not a direct observation for L. teteae, and clutch size, incubation period and fry development remain undocumented for the species.
In the aquarium
Loricaria teteae was described only in 2026 and has no history in the ornamental trade; it is not a species aquarists can currently obtain. Were it ever collected for the hobby, its Cerrado coastal-river origin suggests the general whiptail-catfish care template used for the genus — fine sand substrate to protect the ventral plates and barbels, driftwood and leaf litter, well-oxygenated flowing water, and a spacious, sand-bottomed aquarium given its size — would be a reasonable starting point. This is a genus-level extrapolation offered with no captive experience behind it, not documented husbandry guidance for this species.
Conservation
Loricaria teteae has not yet been formally assessed by the IUCN Red List; its status there is Not Evaluated, as is expected for a species described in 2026. In the original description, the authors calculated the species' extent of occurrence at roughly 506 km2 — below the IUCN's threatened-category thresholds — and noted riparian-forest degradation and sewage pollution in the more urbanised portions of the basin, but no direct or immediate threat to the species itself. Given the absence of population, abundance or ecological-tolerance data, they proposed classifying it, like L. catirina, as Data Deficient (DD) under IUCN (2024) criteria, pending targeted field study.