Oxynoemacheilus zagrosensis, Kamangar, Barzan Bahrami, Prokofiev, Artem M., Ghaderi, Edris & Nalbant, Theodore T., 2014

Kamangar, Barzan Bahrami, Prokofiev, Artem M., Ghaderi, Edris & Nalbant, Theodore T., 2014, Stone loaches of Choman River system, Kurdistan, Iran (Teleostei: Cypriniformes: Nemacheilidae), Zootaxa 3755 (1), pp. 33-61 : 43-45

Oxynoemacheilus zagrosensis sp. nov.

( Fig. 4 )

Material: Holotype: FCFUK 101, male, 55.5 mm SL, Shooei River (Jemli, station 9), Baneh, Kurdistan, Iran, 35° 58' 01" N, 45° 42' 43" E, June 2009, leg. B.B. Kamangar, E. Ghaderi.

Paratypes: FCFUK 102- FCFUK 136, 9 males, 48.6–60.6 mm SL, 18 females, 47.8–61 mm SL, 8 juveniles, 25.4–27.3 mm SL, the same data as for the holotype; ZMMU 23085, 2 males, 48.6–52.9 mm SL, 2 females, 50.1– 57.4 mm SL, the same data as for the holotype.

Non-type specimens: FCFUK 137, 1 juvenile, 27.1 mm SL, Baneh River (Baneh Jemli, station 2), Baneh, Kurdistan, Iran, 35° 57' 48" N, 45° 42' 51" E, June 2009, leg. B.B. Kamangar, E. Ghaderi; FCFUK 138, 1 male, 44.1 mm SL, Boein River (Boein Payepol, station 5), Baneh, Kurdistan, Iran, 35° 56' 30" N, 45° 56' 36" E, June and August 2009, leg. B.B. Kamangar, E. Ghaderi; FCFUK 139- FCFUK 141, 1 male, 34.2 mm SL, 2 juveniles, 31.8–33.4 mm SL, Choman River (Choman Tajaban, station 6) Baneh, Kurdistan, Iran, 35° 56' 53" N, 45° 41' 40" E, June and August 2009, leg. B.B. Kamangar, E. Ghaderi; FCFUK 142- FCFUK 145, 3 males, 42.3–46.6 mm SL, 1 unsexed, 44.0 mm SL, Baneh River (Baneh Korhe-Pazi, station 8) Baneh, Kurdistan, Iran, 36° 01' 03" N, 45° 55' 20", E, June 2009 and April 2010, leg. B.B. Kamangar, E. Ghaderi.

Note: This species was also recorded from station 10 (Tables 1 and 2), but specimens were not saved.

Diagnosis: A species of Oxynoemacheilis with usually 8 branched dorsal fin rays, complete lateral-line, feebly developed adipose crests on the caudal peduncle, bony air-bladder capsule having moderately small and laterally directed posterior processes, a robust, deep and humped body and a reticulated color pattern confluent to the wavy transverse bands, most distinctively developed posteriorly.

Description: Morphometric and meristic features are provided in Tables 3 and 4. Body ( Figs. 4 a, 4b) elongate, rather deep, usually humped behind the head (especially in males), posteriorly uniform in height; head depressed; trunk weakly compressed before dorsal-fin origin; caudal peduncle strongly compressed, as long as deep, much shorter than head; snout equal to postorbital part of head, rounded; eyes small, dorsolateral in position. Dorsal-fin origin slightly closer to caudal-fin base than to snout tip; pelvic fins inserted under anterior third of dorsal-fin base. Distal margin of dorsal fin convex; distal margin of anal fin convex; tips of paired fins rounded, formed by 2nd to 3rd branched rays; paired fins rather short, in males and females of uniform length, pectorals not reaching verticle of dorsal-fin origin, and pelvics extending well before anus. Caudal fin slightly to moderately emarginated, with lobes broadly rounded. Pelvic axillary lobe absent, sometimes body wall above insertion of pelvics having skin fold lacking free posterior tip. Only slight traces of crests on caudal peduncle at base of caudal fin. Anus close to analfin origin.

Nares closely spaced, anterior naris with a short triangular flap reaching mid-length to hind edge of posterior naris; posterior naris elongate and slit-like. Mouth arched, upper lip incised medially, lower lip broadly interrupted; lips moderately furrowed, inner parts of lower lip fleshy; dentiform process moderately developed, very broad; lower jaw broad, shovel-shaped, with distinct corresponding incision ( Fig. 4 c). Second pair of barbes not reaching anterior border of eye; barbels of third pair extending to mid-orbit.

Pores of cephalic laterosensory system moderately small. Supraorbital canal uninterrupted and confluent with infraorbital canal; last supraorbital pore positioned close to connection with infraorbital canal. Supratemporal commissure uninterrupted. Upper pore of preopercular canal positioned above level of mouth. Number of pores in cephalic canals: supraorbital pores 8–9 (sometimes different on right and left sides), infraorbital 13–14, preoperculomandibular 8, supratemporal 3. Body lateral line canal complete, but sometimes obscured on caudal peduncle.

Body scaled; scales present both on trunk and caudal peduncle partly scaled, squamation most dense at area of dorsal adipose crest. Scales slightly deeper than long, with moderately large, slightly eccentric focal zone ( Fig. 4 d).

Intestine short, with a single small loop not extending to stomach ( Fig. 4 e). Bony air-bladder capsule ( Fig. 4 f) with rather broad, but well-developed manubrium, and with comparatively small posterior processes directed laterally; free air-bladder portion highly reduced to absent.

Sexual dimorphism: Males possesses minute breeding tubercles distributed on snout, opercle and occipital region of head, branchiostegal membranes, isthmus, breast, both sides of body wall in front of dorsal fin, and on paired fins. Length of paired fins not significantly different between sexes (Table 6), but paired fins more broadly rounded in males than in females.

Coloration of preserved specimens: Dark pattern consists of transversely extended spots being confluent to sharply irregular bars considerably reducing the pale underground; head with reticulated pattern; underside pale. Dorsal and caudal fins with transverse rows of well-defined dark markings, sometimes confluent to bands; pectoral and sometimes pelvic fins with vague dark mottles. Peritoneum pale, sometimes with few stellate black melanophores, very sparsely distributed.

Etymology: This species is named from Zagros Mountains; adjective.

Comparative remarks: This new species is syntopic and morphologically very similar to O. chomanicus sp. nov.; their detailed comparison are given under description of the latter. In appearance O. zagrosensis is more or less similar to O. ercisianus (Erk’akan & Kuru, 1986) (with O. pulsiz (Krupp, 1992) as a synonym according Freyhof et al. (2011)), O. frenatus (Heckel, 1843) , O. kiabii Golzarianpour et al. 2011 , O. leontinae (Lortet, 1883) , O. panthera (Heckel, 1843) , O. seyhanensis (Bănărescu, 1968) and O. tigris (Heckel, 1843) , but can be easily distinguished by the complete lateral line (vs incomplete in all the compared species: Krupp & Schneider, 1989; Freyhof et al. 2011; Golzarianpour et al. 2011). O. namiri ( Krupp & Scheider, 1991) sometimes possesses an almost complete lateral line; however, it can be easily distinguished from O. zagrosensis by the stout spine-shaped posterior processes of the bony air-bladder capsule and in the color pattern consisting of regular vertical cross-bars ( Krupp & Schneider, 1991). Within the genus only O. kaynaki Erk’akan et al. 2008 is a similarly deep and stoutbodied species having the complete lateral line; this species is distinguished from O. zagrosensis in having a smaller mouth with smooth lips (vs furrowed in the new species), truncate caudal fin (vs emarginate), very small and strongly eccentric focal zone of scales, and probably also in the modal count of the branched dorsal-fin rays. O. kaynaki has been described as having 8, 9 and 10, rarely 7 or 11 branched dorsal-fin rays (Erk’akan et al. 2008: 116) (vs 8, rarely 7 in the new species); the high common variability of this character may be the result of miscounts.

It is noteworthy that there are also some similarities between the new species and loaches identified as “ Oxynoemacheilus tongiorgii ” by Freyhof et al. (2011: Fig. 12). Although there is no description of the latter, the aforementioned color photograph shows a somewhat different pattern of dark spots in this fish in comparison with our new species; thus, they might be not conspecific. Freyhof et al. (2011) identified the species as Seminemacheilus tongiorgii Nalbant & Bianco, 1998 , and transferred it into Oxynoemacheilus . However, this action was weakly argumented morphologically. S. tongiorgii was described as loaches having the very large and strongly inflated halves of air-bladder in the direct connection, a feature being unique for the genus Seminemacheilus within all the other nemacheilids lacking the preethmoidei-I ( Nalbant & Bianco, 1998: Fig. 11D). This feature clearly excludes an inclusion of S. tongiorgii with Oxynoemacheilus , though the specimens of Freyhof et al. (2011) may have been misidentified and actually can belong to Oxynoemacheilus , likely near O. panthera . However, this is only speculation because of absence of any morphological data for “ O. tongiorgii ” provided by Freyhof et al. (2011). The original description of S. tongiorgii contains the following important features excluded conspecifity of this species with those described herein: shape of air-bladder capsule, incomplete lateral line not extending posterior to pectoral fin, scales distributed along mid-sides only, and a different color pattern ( Nalbant & Bianco, 1998).

Seminemacheilus tongiorgii was described from a spring near the town of Darab, Kul River basin. Further investigations (Esmaeili et al. 2009) indicated that this spring had dried out, but this species was reported from the Ghadamgah spring-stream system in Kor River basin. The specimens collected from the latter place were studied by Freyhof et al. (2011) and re-identified as Oxynoemacheilus tongiorgii . On this ground, Freyhof et al. (2011) considered the type specimens could have been mislabeled and actually come from Kor River. However, a changing of type locality for S. tongiorgii seems to be premature due to a questionable conspecifity between the specimens of Nalbant and Bianco and Freyhof and collaborators. As a biotope in the type locality given in original description of S. tongiorgii was completely destroyed, it is not possibly to resolve this problem by further samplings; thus, a redescription of the type series of S. tongiorgii is necessary (these specimens are unavailable for us at present).

Figures

FIGURE 4. Oxynoemacheilus zagrosensis sp. n.: a) holotype, SL 55.5 mm; b) juvenile, SL 25.7 mm; c) mouth structure; d) scale; e) gastrointestinal duct; f) bony air-bladder capsule, ventral view.