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| Protocobitis longibarba Qin, Liu, Zhang, Shi, Du & Zhou, 2025 长须原花鳅 || DOI: doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1228.131341 |
Abstract
A new species of the genus Protocobitis is described based on morphological comparisons and molecular analyses from specimens of a subterranean tributary of the Hongshui River, Lingyun County, Baise City, and a cave in Jinya Township, Fengshan County, Hechi City, Guangxi, China. Both morphological and molecular data support the validity of Protocobitis longibarba sp. nov. The new species can be distinguished from congeners by the following combination of characteristics: whole body except for head and area between pectoral-fin and pelvic-fin origin sparsely covered with minute scales; barbels elongate; five or six branched pectoral-fin rays and four branched pelvic-fin rays; vertebrae 4+42. Maximum-likelihood and Bayesian-inference phylogenetic trees exhibited congruent topological structures, exhibiting high node support for the monophyly of Protocobitis longibarba (BPP = 1; BS = 100), which was clustered with the other congeners.
Key words: Cavefish, mitochondrial gene, Pearl River, taxonomy
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| Morphometric characters of Protocobitis longibarba sp. nov. A–C lateral, dorsal and ventral views of male, holotype KIZ2024000004 D–F lateral, dorsal and ventral views of female, paratype KIZ2024000003 G ventral view of mouth H live male I lateral and ventral views of skeleton, paratype ZJFRF2402010 J, K suborbital spines (Abbreviations: Pmc, Processus mediocaudalis; Pl-c, Processus latero-caudalis; Pm, Processus medialis; Pm-l, Processus medio-lateralis; Pl-r, Processus latero-rostralis; Pm-r, Processus medio-rostralis). |
Protocobitis longibarba sp. nov.
Diagnosis: Protocobitis longibarba can be distinguished from all other species of Protocobitis by the following combination of characteristics: whole body, except for head and abdomen, sparsely covered with minute scales (vs scaleless in P. anteroventris, scales present along midline of body in P. typhlops; barbels elongate; 5–6 branched pectoral fin rays (vs seven in P. anteroventris, P. longicostatus, and P. polylepis); four branched pelvic-fin rays (vs five in other Protocobitis species); caudal-peduncle height 34.9%–58.6% of its length (vs 64.1%–65.7% in P. polylepis, 27.9%–43.3% in P. anteroventris); head width 7.3%–10.3% of SL (vs 5.4%–6.6% in P. anteroventris); head height 50.2%–80.6% of lateral head length (vs 45.7%–49.5% in P. longicostatus, 43.8%–46.8% in P. anteroventris).
Etymology: The specific epithet is a combination of the Latin words long- (long) and -barba (barbel), indicating its long maxillary barbel, which extends almost to the vertical line at the junction of the head and dorsal body, feminine. We suggest the common Chinese name “Cháng Xū Yuán Huā Qiū (长须原花鳅)” and English name “long-barbal protocobitis”.
Zhi-Xian Qin, Ye-Wei Liu, Si-Yu Zhang, Jing-Song Shi, Li-Na Du and Jia-Jun Zhou. 2025.
A New Species of the rib-degenerated loach, Genus Protocobitis (Cypriniformes, Cobitidae), from Guangxi, China. ZooKeys. 1228: 185-195. DOI: doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1228.131341 