Taxonomy & naming
Harttia leiopleura was described by Osvaldo T. Oyakawa in 1993, as part of his revision of the southeastern Brazilian species of Harttia. The Catalog of Fishes (Eschmeyer, CAS) lists it as a valid species (genus Harttia, species leiopleura), and FishBase follows the same valid combination.
The genus Harttia sits in the subfamily Loricariinae — the depressed-bodied 'whiptail' loricariids — and the species was included in Ferraris's 2003 checklist of the freshwater fishes of South and Central America (in Reis, Kullander & Ferraris, eds.).
The species epithet leiopleura derives from Greek elements meaning 'smooth' (leios) and 'side/flank' (pleura), a reference to the squamation of the body flanks; it is offered here on the standard reading of the Greek roots rather than from a quoted etymology in the sources available.
Morphology
Harttia leiopleura reaches a maximum recorded size of about 3.5 in standard length (SL), with a maximum published weight of roughly 8.3 g. It shows the genus-typical loricariin form: a flattened, depressed body, an elongate tapering caudal peduncle, and a ventral suckermouth disc adapted for grazing and clinging to substrate in moving water.
Full colour pattern, meristics, and any sexual dimorphism are detailed in Oyakawa's 1993 description; those particulars are not summarised in the sources available here, so no further morphological claims are made.
Habitat
The species is endemic to the rio das Velhas basin, part of the upper São Francisco River drainage in Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil. It is a tropical freshwater fish and demersal in habit, living on or near the bottom in keeping with the substrate-grazing biology of the genus.
No site-specific water chemistry — temperature, pH, hardness, or depth — is reported for this species in the sources at hand, so none is asserted. The genus generally occupies clear, flowing upland streams with firm substrate.
Feeding
Harttia leiopleura is a benthic grazer with an estimated trophic level of about 2.6 (FishBase), indicating a diet built on low-trophic foods — the algal biofilm (aufwuchs), associated micro-invertebrates, and detritus rasped from rocks and submerged surfaces with the ventral suckermouth.
No species-specific diet study is available in the sources here; the dietary picture rests on the genus's grazing habit and the estimated trophic level.
Mating
No mating or courtship behaviour has been published for Harttia leiopleura in the sources available here. Several congeners are lithophilous rock-spawners with paternal egg care, but no such observation is recorded for this species, so none is claimed.
Breeding
No breeding data — spawning site, clutch size, incubation, or parental care — have been published for Harttia leiopleura in the sources at hand, and there is no documented captive spawning. Reproductive specifics for the species remain undocumented here.
In the aquarium
Harttia leiopleura is not part of the ornamental trade and has no established husbandry record. As a small upland-stream loricariin, its broad needs would resemble those of other whiptail Harttia — clean, well-oxygenated flowing water over firm grazing surfaces — but because no documented keeping experience exists in the sources here, no specific parameters or stocking advice are offered.
Conservation
The IUCN Red List assessed Harttia leiopleura as Least Concern (LC) in 2022. Although narrowly endemic to the rio das Velhas basin, it was not considered to face threats sufficient for a higher category at assessment. The rio das Velhas has a long history of mining, urban, and industrial pressure within the upper São Francisco drainage, so habitat degradation remains a background concern for a fish confined to that single basin.