Two new Hypostomus species have just been described from Brazil and they are H. weberi and H. kopeyaka. The two new Hypostomus species belong to the H. cochliodon group of species. Hypostomus weberi is covered with attractive large spots all over the body which are larger on the flank yet smaller and more numerous on the face. H. weberi comes from rapids and flooded forests of the middle Rio Negro river basin and it is named after pleco expert Claude Weber. Hypostomus kopeyaka is so named after the common name for this species by the local indians who call it “kope yaka” which means “pleco from holes”. H. kopeyaka has a unique color pattern consisting of dark dots and dashes which are more like dots on the face and fins but which align into attractive dashed lines along the flanks of the body. Hypostomus kopeyaka was collected from rapids to slow flowing waters of the upper Rio Negro river drainage. Both of the new Hypostomus species are described in the latest issue of Neotropical Ichthyology by Carvalho, Lima and Zawadzki. Follow the break for more shots of the dorsal and ventral sides of these two new species, Hypostomus weberi and Hypostomus kopeyaka.

[via Practical Fishkeeping]