This species is distinguished by the following characters: unique lateral dermal plate arrangement, in which the mid-dorsal and median plate series are greatly reduced in number of elements; thus, most of the body is covered by only three series of plates (viz., dorsal, mid-ventral, and ventral plate series) posteriorly from the abdomen to caudal peduncle (vs. typically five lateral dermal plate series present, plate series decreasing to three series, viz. dorsal, median, and ventral plate series, only at the caudal peduncle in most other Loricariidae genera) (Ref. 92524).