Sampling was funded by Vale S.A. as part of the project “Study on Aquatic Biota and Riparian Communities on the Paraopeba River”. Collection of specimens was authorized by Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade (ICMBio, Process 77398-2) and approved by MHNCI’s Ethics Committee on Animal Use. Authors are grateful for Thiago Occhi and Thiago Toniolo for their invaluable fieldwork support. We also acknowledge contributions from Artur Obino, Paulo Salomon, Virgílio Ferreira-Filho, Leandro Sabagh, Vinicius Farjalla and Carlos Grelle (UFRJ). Genetic analyses were funded by Fundação Araucária (NAPI-Bioinformática, grant #033/2021). RAD received a doctoral scholarship (under advice of VA) from Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES). RLM received funding from Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq).