Sunday, November 29, 2020

[Ichthyology • 2020] Indoreonectes telanganaensis • A New Species of Loach (Teleostei: Nemacheilidae) from the Godavari Basin of India


 Indoreonectes telanganaensis

Prasad, C. Srinivasulu, A. Srinivasulu, Anoop & Dahanukar, 2020

Abstract
A new species of hill-stream loach, Indoreonectes telanganaensis, is described from a seasonal tributary of the Godavari River at Maisamma Loddi, within the Kawal Tiger Reserve, Telangana State, India. The new species is distinguished from its congeners by a combination of characters including caudal peduncle as long as deep; eye large, its diameter about one-fifth head length; pectoral fin as long as head; nasal barbel reaching the middle of the eye; dorsal-fin origin on vertical through pelvic-fin origin; and bars on the lateral side of the body well defined and wide. We also provide multivariate morphometric, and DNA analysis based on the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene sequence to support the distinction of the new species.

Keywords: Telangana loach, hillstream loach, molecular phylogeny, Telangana State, Pisces




Kante Krishna Prasad, Chelmala Srinivasulu, Aditya Srinivasulu, V. K. Anoop and Neelesh Dahanukar. 2020. Indoreonectes telanganaensis, A New Species of Loach (Teleostei: Nemacheilidae) from the Godavari Basin of India. Zootaxa. 4878(2); 335–348. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4878.2.7