A new loach species of the genus Oreonectes (Teleostei, Cypriniformes, Nemacheilidae) from Guangxi, China

Xue-Ming Luo; Rui-Gang Yang; Li-Na Du; Fu-Guang Luo

doi:10.3897/zookeys.1196.109810

A new loach species of the genus Oreonectes (Teleostei, Cypriniformes, Nemacheilidae) from Guangxi, China

Zookeys. 2024 Mar 28:1196:285-301. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.1196.109810. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Xue-Ming Luo¹, Rui-Gang Yang², Li-Na Du¹, Fu-Guang Luo³

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Ecology of Rare and Endangered Species and Environmental Protection (Guangxi Normal University), Ministry of Education Guilin 541004, China.
² Guangxi Key Laboratory of Rare and Endangered Animal Ecology, College of Life Science, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin 541004, China.
³ Scientific Research Academy of Guangxi Environmental Protection, Nanning, Guangxi 530022, China.

Abstract

A new loach species, Oreonectesandongensissp. nov. is described from the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China. The new species can be differentiated from other members of the genus by combinations of characters: a developed posterior chamber of the swim bladder, 13-14 branched caudal-fin rays, 8-16 lateral-line pores, body width 12-15% of standard length (SL), interorbital width 42-47% of head length (HL), and caudal peduncle length 11-16% of SL. Bayesian inference phylogenetic analysis based on mitochondrial Cyt b provided strong support for validity of O.andongensissp. nov. (uncorrected p-distance 6.0-7.5%).

Keywords: New species; Xijiang River; morphology; phylogeny; taxonomy.

Xue-Ming Luo, Rui-Gang Yang, Li-Na Du, Fu-Guang Luo.

Grants and funding

Guangxi Natural Science Foundation Project (2022GXNSFAA035563 and 2020GXNSFAA238031), Ministry of Education, China (ERESEP2022Z05), Nanling biodiversity conservation priority area (Liuzhou area), Guangxi (11N00760329320231202).