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| Niwaella tigrina H.-X. Zhang, Y.-P. Zhang, W.-J. Chen & E. Zhang, 2025 |
Abstract
A new species of the spiny loach genus Niwaella is described herein from the Xiu-Shui river, an affluent of Lake Poyang in Jiangxi Province, China. This species is distinguished from all other congeneric species in China due to having a unique body coloration, comprising 20-25 transverse black bars on the dorsum and upper part of the flank. Other characteristics, though not exclusive to this species, include an indistinct blackish mid-dorsal stripe from the nape to the caudal-fin base, a lower jaw fully covered by the lower lip; 17-20 black vertical bars on the lower part of flank, a short suborbital spine with a shorter processus latero-caudalis that is less than one-fifth the length of the processus medio-caudalis, and seven branched dorsal-fin rays. The validity of the new species is corroborated by its monophyly, as evidenced by phylogenetic analysis based on the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene.
Pisces, Taxonomy, Cobitidae, new taxon, middle Chang-Jiang basin
HAI-XIN ZHANG, YAN-PING ZHANG, WEN-JING CHEN and E. ZHANG. 2025. Niwaella tigrina, A New Species of Spined Loach from the Poyang Lake System of Jiangxi Province, East China. Zootaxa. 5583(1); 101-112. DOI: doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5583.1.5 [2025-01-31]
