Alburnus ulanus Günther 1899

Jouladeh-Roudbar, Arash, Ghanavi, Hamid Reza & Doadrio, Ignacio, 2020, Fig. 4 in Fig. 4 in Fig. 3 in Fig. 21. Sesarmops mora n in Paralbunea dayriti, Zoological Studies 59 (21), pp. 1-303 : 131-132

Alburnus ulanus Günther 1899 – Endemic ( Fig. 235)

Leuciscus gaderanus Günther [A.] 1899: 388; Type locality: Gader Chai, near Ocksa, northwestern Iran; near mouth of Nazlu Chai at Superghan, Iran. Syntypes: (3 + 3) BMNH 1899.9.30.113–115 (3) Ocksa, 1899.9.30.108–112 (?2 of 5 are types).

Leuciscus ulanus Günther [A.] 1899: 387; Type locality: Ula on the Zola Chai, northwestern Iran. Syntypes: BMNH 1984.10.10.1–2 (2).

Alburnus atropatenae Berg [L. S.] 1925: 213; Type locality: Rivers of Lake Urmia, Iran. Syntypes: (46) BMNH 1899.9.30.127 (1), 1899.9.30.128–130 (3); not at ZIN.

Common name: Pr: Kuli, Shah kuli-e Oromiyeh, En: Urmia Lake bleak.

Diagnosis: This species is distinguished from its relatives by a combination of characters, Total gill rakers 15–16, commonly 11 branched anal fin rays, lateral line scales 46–63.

Meristic characters: D: III 7–8 (8), A: III 9–12 (11), P: 13–16 (14–15), V: 8–9 (8), GR: 15–16, LL: 46–63, TV: 40.

Distribution: Urmia Lake basin ( Fig. 236). Found in Kazim-chai, Ozband River, Talkheh, Ghalechai, Zarrineh and Tatavi (Siminerud) rivers.

Taxonomy: The genus Petroleuciscus was described by Bogutskaya (2002) based on morphological characters and, P. esfahani , P. ulanus and P. persidis from Iran were placed in this genus. According to Perea et al. (2010), P. persidis does not belong to this genus; therefore, they placed it in Acanthobrama . Based on the material from type locality (Zayandehrud River, Esfahan basin), and also Namak and Tigris basins, Mohammadian-Kalat et al. (2017) showed P. esfahani was not a valid species and they identified the studied material as Alburnus doriae . On the other hand, based on the material obtained from the type locality of P. ulanus (Ula on the Zola Chai, Urmia Lake basin) and other rivers surrounding it and the Urmia basin, we did not found any molecular and morphological difference between P. ulanus ( Alburnus ulanus ) and Alburnus atropatenae (own unpublished data). Therefore, we consider A. atropatenae as a joniur synonym of A. ulanus .

Conservation: IUCN: Not Evaluated, PC: Least Concern. Due to the wide distribution of this species in upper part of Urmia Lake basin (i.e., Kazim-chai, Ozband River, Talkheh, Ghalechai, Tatavi and Zarrineh rivers), their big population size and the lack of any particular known threat, we classified it as Least Concern.