One of the earliest and most complete loricariid fossils is †Taubateia paraiba, which was described by Malabarba and Lundberg (2007) from southeastern Brazil based on a ventral impression of a neurocranium and some vertebrae. The fossil is from lacustrine habitat of the Tremembé Formation of the Taubaté Group, which is dated to the Oligocene to Early Miocene (~30–20 Mya). The locality (22°50’ S, 45°52’ W) is currently part of the Paraná River basin. Based on an extensive database of measurements of loricariids by the authors, the 54.5 mm long skull, equates to approximately 70 mm head length (snout to tip of supraoccipital), indicating a specimen that is ~175–210 mm long, which is fairly large for loricariids. In the original description, Malabarba and Lundberg described the anatomy of the fossil in detail, but they were unable to resolve the identity of the fish beyond its placement within Loricariidae.