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| Traccatichthys punctulatus Qin, Zhou, Du & Lin, 2025 |
Abstract
Traccatichthys punctulatus is here described from the Liu-Jiang flowing into the Xi-Jiang of the Pearl River basin at Jinxiu County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, southern China. It is distinguished from all congeners by having a unique body coloration of a series of brown spots along the lateral line and dorsal-fin. Other diagnostic characters, not unique to this new species, are caudal-fin and lateral body colorations, and absence of pectoral-fin tuberculation. Its validity is further confirmed by its monophyly recovered in a molecular phylogenetic analysis based on mitochondrial COI and Cyt b gene sequences and species-level divergence between the new species and its closest relatives.
Key Words: Genetic divergence, morphological differentiation, species description, taxonomy
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| Morphological characteristics of Traccatichthys punctulatus sp. nov. A–C. Lateral, dorsal, and ventral views of holotype KIZ 2005013850; D. Living photograph; E–G. Lateral, dorsal, and ventral views of morphologic variation KIZ 2005013862. Scale bars: 1 cm. |
Traccatichthys punctulatus sp. nov.
Zhi-Xian Qin, Jia-Jun Zhou, Li-Na Du and Feng Lin. 2025. Traccatichthys punctulatus sp. nov., A New Species of Stone Loach (Pisces, Nemacheilidae) from Guangxi, southern China. Zoosystematics and Evolution. 101(3): 1013-1021. DOI: doi.org/10.3897/zse.101.146077
