A new species of the rib-degenerated loach, genus Protocobitis (Cypriniformes, Cobitidae), from Guangxi, China

By

Qin, Zhi-Xian
Liu, Ye-Wei
Zhang, Si-Yu
Shi, Jingsong
Du, Li-Na
Zhou, Jia-Jun

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2025

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

1228

Pages

185--195

Subjects

cavefish , Mitochondrial gene , Pearl River , taxonomy

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://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 longibarbasp. 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.