Description of a new species of Oreonectes (Cypriniformes, Nemacheilidae) from Guangxi, China

By

Chen, Zhuo-Ni
Huang, Shi-Rong
Zou, Tongxiang
Du, Li-Na
Lin, Feng

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2026-1-13

Original Publication

Zoosystematics and evolution

Volume

102

Series / Issue

Issue: 1

Pages

119--130

Subjects

cryptic species , Karst Region , karst region , Mitochondrial gene , Oreonectes , taxonomy

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia Pensoft

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zse.102.172439

 

Abstract

<br> Fishes of the genus<br> Oreonectes<br> inhabit complex karst landscapes, and additional cryptic species may be present within<br> Oreonectes<br> . Specimens previously identified as<br> O. platycephalus<br> and collected from Fenzhan Village, Jinxiu County, Guangxi, may represent a new species,<br> Oreonectes jinxiuensis<br> . It is distinguished from all congeners by a degenerated swim bladder, adjacent anterior and posterior nostrils, 13 inner gill rakers on the first gill arch, a dorsal-fin origin posterior to the pelvic-fin origin, 10 branched pectoral-fin rays, 14–15 branched caudal-fin rays, a preanal length of 73.7%–77.3% of SL, and a caudal-peduncle length of 13.3%–16.4% of SL. Its validity is further supported by its recovered monophyly in a molecular phylogenetic analysis based on mitochondrial COI and Cyt<br> b<br> gene sequences, as well as by species-level genetic divergence between the new species and its closest relatives.<br>