Triplophysa wulongensis, a new species of cave-dwelling loach (Teleostei, Nemacheilidae) from Chongqing, Southwest China

By

Chen, Shijing
Sheraliev, Bakhtiyor
Shu, Lu
Peng, Zuogang

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2021

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

1026

Pages

179--192

Subjects

cavefish , cytb sequence , freshwater fish , Ichthyology , Phylogeny

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1026.61570

 

Abstract

We describe a new species of cave-dwelling loach, Triplophysa wulongensissp. nov., based on specimens collected in a subterranean pool in a cave in Wulong County, Chongqing, Southwest China. The pool is connected to the Wujiang River drainage. Triplophysa wulongensis differs from its congeners by the following combination of characters: eyes present, caudal fin with 18 branched rays; posterior chamber of the air bladder degenerate; stomach U-shaped; intestine without bends or loops immediately posterior to stomach; body smooth and scaleless, and lateral line complete. The mitochondrial cytochrome b sequence differs from those of other published sequences of species of Triplophysa by 14.9–24.9% in K2P distance. Phylogenetic analysis based on cytochrome b gene sequences recovered T. wulongensis as sister taxon to all other cave-dwelling species of Triplophysa.