Proloricaria is a genus of whiptail catfish in the family Loricariidae, subfamily Loricariinae - armored suckermouth catfish with a flattened, elongated body and a long, ray-like tail that gives the group its common name. Known from Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela, the genus's 2 species in the atlas run from about 10–18 in, larger than many whiptails. Like other loricariines they are bottom-dwellers, using a sucker-disc mouth to graze biofilm and algae from submerged wood and rock in slow to moderate river current.
The two species, the spotted whiptail (Proloricaria lentiginosa) and the cascudo chinelo (P. prolixa), are seen only occasionally in the aquarium trade compared with more familiar whiptail genera, and their care broadly follows the loricariine template - a sand or fine-gravel substrate, driftwood to graze and rasp, and clean, well-oxygenated water. IUCN assessment data are thin for the genus, with one species not yet evaluated and the other rated Least Concern, and no indication of significant conservation pressure at this time.