Seminemacheilus ahmeti Sungur, Jalili, Eagderi & Çiçek 2018

Yoğurtçuoğlu, Baran, Kaya, Cüneyt, Geiger, Matthias F. & Freyhof, Jörg, 2020, Revision of the genus Seminemacheilus, with the description of three new species (Teleostei: Nemacheilidae), Zootaxa 4802 (3), pp. 477-501 : 486-487

Seminemacheilus ahmeti Sungur, Jalili, Eagderi & Çiçek 2018

( Figs. 7–8 )

Seminemacheilus ahmeti Sungur, Jalili, Eagderi & Çiçek, 2018:467 , Figs. 1–4 , 5b , 6b , 7b (type locality: Sultan Sazlığı near Yeşilova Village, Kızılırmak Basin, Kayseri Province, Turkey, 38.2014, 35.2221)

Material examined. FFR 15562, 4, 47–57 mm SL; FSJF 2604 , 20 , 33–54 mm SL; Turkey: Kayseri prov.: spring Soysallı west of Soysallı , 38.3902, 35.3656 .— FSJF 2501 , 4 , 32–38 mm SL; Turkey: Kayseri prov.: canal north of Senir at road to Sultan Sazlığı National Park , 38.2013, 35.2525 .

Material used in molecular genetic analysis. FSJF DNA-986 ; Turkey: Kayseri prov.: canal north of Senir at road to Sultan Sazlığı National Park , 38.2013, 35.2525. (GenBank accession numbers: MT077012 , MT077013 ) .— FSJF DNA-956 ; Turkey: Kayseri prov.: spring Soysallı west of Soysallı , 38.3902, 35.3656. (GenBank accession numbers: KJ554681 , KJ554757 , MT077014 , MT077015 ) .

Diagnosis. Seminemacheilus ahmeti is distinguished from all other species of Seminemacheilus by having many small black or brown dots or blotches on the belly (vs. absent) and the posterior naris reaching to the anterior eye margin when folded backward (vs. not reaching). It is further distinguished by a combination of characters. Seminemacheilus ahmeti is distinguished from S. ispartensis by lacking scales (vs. having deeply embedded scales on the caudal peduncle), having a roundish caudal fin (vs. truncate in S. lendlii and S. ispartensis ), a long head (head length 24–27% SL vs. 21–24 in S. isparaensis ), and 2–5 supraorbital head pores (vs. 5–8 in S. lendlii ; 6–10 in S. ispartensis ).

Distribution. Seminemacheilus ahmeti is endemic to Sultan Sazlığı, an endorheic basin in Central Anatolia.

Remarks. Based on DNA barcoding, S. ahmeti is well separated from all other studied Seminemacheilus species, and by a minimum K2P distance of 2.4% to S. ekmekciae , its closest relative. It is supported as a distinct species by the PTP approach, but not by the mPTP delimitation. Seminemacheilus ahmeti is one of five fish ( Aphanius danfordii, Pseudophoxinus elizavetae, Oxynoemacheilus ciceki and Cobitis joergbohleni ) endemic to Sultan Sazlığı ( Freyhof et al., 2018). All these species are now restricted to very small habitat patches, since the wetland has been drained and dried out in recent decades. This case triggers a high threat category for all the fish in Sultan Sazlığı, including S. ahmeti , making this small wetland a place of major importance for conservation.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Maximum likelihood estimation of the phylogenetic relationships based on the mitochondrial COI barcode region (Kimura 2-parameter model, discrete Gamma distribution for rate differences with 5 categories +G parameter = 0.2107. Nucleo- tide positions with less than 98% site coverage were eliminated, resulting in 606 analysed positions. Numbers of major nodes indicate bootstrap values from 1000 pseudoreplicates from the ML, NJ and MP method. Solid bars right to the specimen labels indicate species delimitation results from PTP followed by the results of the mPTP approach as dashed bars. The tree is drawn to scale (except to the outgroup) with branch lengths depicting number of substitutions per site.

FIGURE 2. Records of Seminemacheilus species.

FIGURE 3. Seminemacheilus lendlii, from top: FFR 1369, male, 50 mm SL; Lake Eber; FFR 15570, female, 53 mm SL; stream Eymir.

FIGURE 4. Seminemacheilus lendlii, left from top: FFR 15570, female, 68 mm SL; male, 53 mm SL; stream Eymir; right from top: FSJF 3123, female, 58 mm SL; male, 48 mm SL; spring at Ulupınar.

FIGURE 5. Seminemacheilus ispartensis, from top: FFR 15565, male, 60 mm SL; female, 61 mm SL; male, 60 mm SL; stream Sevinçbey.

FIGURE 6. Seminemacheilus ispartensis, from top: FFR 15565, male, 60 mm SL; creek Sevinçbey; FSJF 2473, female, 72 mm SL; male, 74 mm SL; stream Çayköy.

FIGURE 7. Seminemacheilus ahmeti, from top: FSJF 2604, male, 46 mm SL; female, 55 mm SL; female, 49 mm SL; female, 53 mm SL; spring Soysallı.

FIGURE 8. Seminemacheilus ahmeti, from top: FSJF 2604, female, 53 mm SL; male; 51 mm SL; spring Soysallı.