Opsariichthysiridescens sp. nov. is described from the Qiantang and Oujiang rivers in Zhejiang Province and a tributary of the Yangtze River adjacent to the Qiantang River. It is distinguished from congeners by the following combination of morphological features: no obvious anterior notch on the tip of the upper lip; 45-52 lateral-line scales; 18-21 pre-dorsal scales; two rows of pharyngeal teeth; a maxillary extending to or slightly beyond the vertical anterior margin of the orbit in adult males; a pectoral fin extending to the pelvic fin in adult males; nuptial tubercles on the cheeks and lower jaw of males, which are usually united basally to form a plate; uniform narrow pale pink cross-bars on trunk and two widening significantly on caudal peduncle. Its validity was also supported by its distinct Cyt b gene sequence divergence from all congeners and its monophyly recovered in a Cyt b gene-based phylogenetic analysis.
Keywords: Cytochrome b; morphology; opsariichthine; phylogenetic analysis; principal component analysis (PCA); taxonomy.
Xin Peng, Jia-Jun Zhou, Hong-Di Gao, Jin-Quan Yang.