This article is a redescription of Pimelodella longipinnis, an enigmatic catfish previously known only from its holotype and with uncertain type locality. The species is redescribed based on recently collected materials from streams of the Mata Atlântica bioregion, in Santos municipality, São Paulo State, Brazil. Pimelodella longipinnis is assigned to a putatively monophyletic group, the Pimelodella leptosoma-group, diagnosed by the presence of a supraoccipital process not reaching the anterior nuchal plate, with a gap of ca. 20-25% of the supraoccipital process total length, and whose tip notably surpasses the midpoint of the complex vertebra in dorsal view. We also present a list of fish species described from a shipping sent to the American Museum of Natural History from the former Museu Paulista (now Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo), of which P. longipinnis was part.