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| Troglonectes canlinensis Li, Ge, Bao, Du, Luo et Zou, 2023 DOI: 10.3390/ani13101712 |
Abstract
A new species of the genus Troglonectes is described based on specimens from a karst cave in Andong Town, Xincheng County, Liuzhou City, Guangxi, China. Troglonectes canlinensis sp. nov. can be distinguished from its congener species by the following combination of characteristics: eye degenerated into a black spot; whole body covered by scales, except for the head, throat, and abdomen; incomplete lateral line; forked caudal fin; 8–10 gill rakers on the first gill arch; 13–14 branched caudal fin rays; 8–9 branched dorsal fin rays; 5–6 anal fin rays; 9–10 pectoral fin rays; upper adipose keel depth mostly 1/2 of the caudal peduncle depth; and caudal fin forked.
Keywords: taxonomy; complete mitochondrial gene; cave loach; Hongshuihe river
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Preserved and living photos of Troglonectes canlinensis sp. nov. Holotype KIZ-GXNU202210, (A) lateral view; (B) dorsal view; (C) ventral view; (D) living photo. Scale = 1 cm. |
Troglonectes canlinensis sp. nov.
Diagnosis. Troglonectes canlinensis sp. nov., T. duanensis, T. lingyunensis, T. macrolepis, T. hechiensis, and T. retrodorsalis share their whole trunk being scaled, except for the head and area between the pectoral fins and pelvic fins; other species of Troglonectes have scaleless bodies or bodies scaled after the dorsal fin origin in Tr. furcocaudalis. However, the new species can be distinguished from T. duanensis by the incomplete lateral line (vs. absent), from T. lingyunensis and T. macrolepis by the eye being present (vs. eye reduced to black pigment), from T. hechiensis by the 8–10 inner-gill rakers on first gill arch (vs. 14), and from T. retrodorsalis by the tip of the anterior nostril being elongated to barbel-like and the nostril barbel length being nearly twice the nostril tube length (vs. nostril barbel length being less than 1/2 of the tube length).
Etymology. The specific name “canlinensis” is derived from the pinyin of “can” and “lin”, which refer to resplendence and forest, respectively, with “canlin” symbolizing health and tenacious vitality. Troglonectes canlinensis sp. nov. is valuable and rare and requires strong vitality to maintain a viable population. We suggest the common Chinese name “灿 (càn) 林 (lín) 洞 (dòng) 鳅 (qīu)”.
Shu-Jing Li, Jia-Kai Ge, Chun-Yan Bao, Li-Na Du, Fu-Guang Luo and Tong-Xiang Zou. 2023. Troglonectes canlinensis sp. nov. (Teleostei: Nemacheilidae), A New Troglomorphic Loach from Guangxi, China. Animals. 13(10). DOI: 10.3390/ani13101712
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aquatic Fauna Biodiversity and Conservation)
Simple Summary: Troglonectes is a small-body loach endemic to the Guangxi and Guizhou provinces of China, showing a particular affinity for cave areas. Twenty species were recorded in this genus, including one new species. The new species, Tr. canlinensis, can be distinguished from other congenetic species by their morphological characteristics and molecular evidence. In the genus of Troglonectes, the eye, lateral line and scale present or absent, the number of branched pectoral fin rays, caudal fin rays and anal fin rays, and the depth of the upper adipose keel on the caudal peduncle are important identifying characteristics.
