2025/08/05 by Tingting Zhu, Feng-Hua Yuan, Renyi Zhang +1 · 2 voices · 2 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Environmental Science · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Fish Biology and Ecology Studies #Fish biology, ecology, and behavior #Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.3897/zse.101.154380
Based on morphological and molecular data, we described a new cave-dwelling species, Triplophysa xiuwenensis sp. nov. , from the karst region of southwest China. The new species can be distinguished from its congeners by the following morphological characteristics: body scaleless without pigmentation; eye diameter of HL with 4.6–6.7%; tip of pelvic fin not reaching anus; outer rostral barbel reaching to posterior margin of eyes; 14–15 branched caudal fin rays. Phylogenetic relationships based on the mitochondrial cytochrome b (Cyt b ) gene support the validity of the new species. The discovery of the new species brings the number of cave-dwelling Triplophysa species in Guizhou Province to 15, making it the region with the highest number of Triplophysa cave species in the southwestern karst area.