Oxynoemacheilus panthera (Heckel, 1843)

Saad, Adib, Çiçek, Erdoğan, Esmaeili, Hamid Reza, Fricke, Ronald, Sungur, Sevil & Eagderi, Soheil, 2023, Freshwater fishes of Syria: a revised and updated annotated checklist- 2023, Zootaxa 5350 (1), pp. 1-62 : 13

Oxynoemacheilus panthera (Heckel, 1843) [N] — Damascus loach; Lahhas alsakhr

Taxonomy. Original description: Cobitis panthera Heckel, 1843a: 1087 [97] [Damascus, Syria; holotype: syntypes: NMW 48565 (3), NRM 15478 (1)].—Syrian synonyms: Cobitis leopardus Heckel, 1843 ; Orthrias panthera (Heckel, 1843) ; Nemacheilus panthera (Heckel, 1843) ; Barbatula panthera (Heckel, 1843) .—Revisions: Prokofiev (2009: 880).—Illustration: Goren (1974: pl. 2 a-b); Freyhof et al. (2012: 304, fig. 2, Syria).

Status in Syria. Recorded from Syria in original description by Heckel (1843a: 1087, 1089) as Cobitis panthera and C. leopardus ; subsequently reported by Beckman (1962: 77) as Nemachilus panther and by Saad et al. (2009).—Syrian material: BMNH, FMNH, MCZ, MNHN, NRM, USNM, MSL, FSJF.

Distribution and habitat. Distribution in Syria: Lake Al-ʿUtaybah drainage.—Distribution in River Basin: 3- Desert, 5-Barada & Awaj, 7-Al-Yarmouk.—General distribution: Asia Minor and Middle East: Israel, Jordan, Syria.—Distribution in Ecoregion: 438- Jordan River, 440-Arabian Interior.—Habitat: This species lives in the standing and slowly flowing waters of springs and streams with mud or gravel substrate. Freshwater.

Economic importance. No commercial importance.

Conservation. Conservation status in Syria: Unknown.—IUCN: EN ( IUCN 2023).—Threats: HAB, CON, CLI, ABS, EUT.—High sensitivity to human activities.—Keystone species.—Decline status: Decreasing.—High priority for conservation action.

Remarks. According to Krupp & Schnider (1989) this species is a synonym of Oxynoemacheilus insignis .