Cobitis nalbanti Vasil'Eva, Kim, Vasil'Ev, Ko & Won, 2016, new species
Creators: name: Vasil'Eva, Ekaterina D.
name: Kim, Daemin
name: Vasil'Ev, Victor P.
name: Ko, Myeong-Hun
name: Won, Yong-Jin
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Actinopterygii
Cypriniformes
Cobitidae
Cobitis
Cobitis nalbanti

description: Cobitis nalbanti, new species
(Figs. 5–6; Table 3)
Cobitis taenia lutheri (not of Rendahl, 1935): Kim, 1980: 240; Kim & Son, 1984: 53, 54. Ueno et al., 1985: 540.
Cobitis lutheri (not of Rendahl, 1935): Kim, 1986: 945 (partim?); Kim & Lee, 1988: 94; Kim, 1997: 307; Kim et al., 1999: 378 (partim, Fig. 7); Nalbant et al., 2001: 281 (partim); Kim & Park, 2002: 224 (partim); Kim, 2009: 10 (partim).
Holotype. ZMMU P-23896, male, 89.2 mm TL, 74 mm SL, South Korea, Cheongmi River, Chonggok-ri, Yulmyeon, Icheon-si, Gyeonggi-do (Han River drainage), 10 October 2014, collector Myeong-Hun Ko.
Paratypes. ZMMU P-23897, one female 107 mm TL, 91.5 mm SL, collected with holotype; EWNHM 80336- 80338, EWNHM 80339-80344, 9 females, 80.7–111.9 mm TL, 67.9–94.0 mm SL, collected with holotype; EWNHM 80345-80346, two males, 87.6–88.0 mm TL, 71.5–72.6 mm SL, collected with holotype; EWNHM 80347-80367, 14 males, 7 females, 72.5–115.0 mm TL, 59.6–96.4 mm SL, South Korea, Geumdang River, Deoksan-ri, Buknae-myeon, Yeoju-si, Gyeonggi-do (Han River drainage), 14 September 2014, collector Myeong-Hun Ko.
Non-type specimens. ZMMU P-23898, one male, one female, South Korea, Baekgok River, Sasong-ri, Baekgok-myeon, Jincheon-gun, Chungcheongbuk-do [Geum (=Keum) River drainage], 27 November 2013, collector Myeong-Hun Ko.
Diagnosis. A species of Cobitis with a wide, ovoid lamina circularis, rounded scales with a large, slightlydisplaced focal zone (its diameter about 48–63% of scale diameter), a relatively long, protruded snout (usually greater than 42% of head length), the suborbital spine not reaching the center of the eye, the mandibular barbel not reaching the anterior edge of the eye; usually 12–14 dark brown blotches in the fourth Gambetta’s zone; a single elongated black spot at the upper part of the caudal-fin base; the only streak on the head running from the tip of snout to the nape, across the eye; 2n = 48–51; NF = 66.
Description. Dorsal-fin rays iii 7 ½, anal-fin rays iii 5 ½, pectoral-rays i (7)8 (7 rays found in 11.1% examined specimens), V i (5)6 (five rays—2.8%), C i 14 (16) i (16 rays—2.8%), Vertebrae 41–44 (42.5±0.86). The holotype has D iii 7 ½, A iii 5 ½, P i 7, V i 6, C i 14 i. Morphometric characters of the holotype and paratypes are presented in Table 3.
Body elongated, laterally compressed. Adult females and males can reach 94 mm and 77.1 mm SL, respectively (Table 3). Head elongated, compressed, with upper profile convex. Eyes moderate in size, superiorly located; interorbital space narrow, convex. Snout relatively long, its length usually (over 80%) more than 42% of head length. Suborbital spine bifid, thick, slightly curved, not reaching center of eye. Mouth small, inferior, with fleshy lips; lower lip divided in two well developed parts, its mental lobes a little longer than rest of folded portion. Short rostral, maxillary and mandibular barbels; mandibular barbel not reaching anterior edge of eye. Caudal peduncle shorter than head, well compressed, with poorly developed fleshy keels on dorsal and ventral sides. Pectoral fin elongated in males, the first ray not more elongated than others, not filamentous (Fig. 5). Lamina circularis at base of second pectoral-fin ray in adult males with wide, elongated, ovoid plate, reaching 5th to10th segments of attached ray (Fig. 6 b). Pelvic fin originating slightly behind origin of dorsal fin. Body covered with small scales; scales at dorsal-fin base rounded, with a large, slightly displaced focal zone; diameter of this zone about 48–63% of scale diameter (Fig. 6 a).
Coloration in alcohol. Background coloration light beige in preserved individuals. Head with small darkbrown speckles on dorsal and lateral sides; a single stripe on head extending from tip of snout to nape, across eye. Gambetta’s zones of pigmentation nearly complete; first zone, at middle of back, represented by large dark brown spots with variable shape, surrounded by small brown speckles. Second zone consists of large, horizontally elongated brown spots; in males, these spots partially or completely merged in a wide streak extending from head to caudal-fin base. Third zone comprised of small dark brown speckles. Fourth zone, at middle of body side, represented by large dark brown blotches, square or elongated; their number in type specimens varying from 10 to 14, average values for 16 examined males and 17 females are 12.4±0.89 and 12.6±1.33, respectively. Two spots at caudal-fin base: a vivid elongated black spot at upper part of caudal-fin base, formed by two pigment layers (dermal layer and deeper layer), and a brown spot of irregular shape at lower part of caudal-fin base, visible in dermal pigment layer only (according to Saitoh & Aizawa, 1987) and appears as a continuation of fourth Gambetta’s zone (Fig. 5) [its belonging to this zone was demonstrated on the picture in Kim (1980: fig. 1)]. Dorsal fin with dark brown pigmentation along rays, caudal fin with elongated brown spots along rays, forming 4–6 transversal lines; small brown speckles scattered on pectoral, pelvic, and anal fins.
Character Holotype Paratypes (16 males) Paratypes (17 females)
Range Mean+SD Range Mean+SD Sexual dimorphism. Females with usually larger, slenderer body than males. Males with lamina circularis at base of second pectoral fin ray, elongated pectoral and pelvic fins, and a slightly deeper dorsal fin (Table 3). During the spawning season, dark spots and blotches in second and fourth Gambetta’s zones in adult males usually merging with each other, forming two broad dark stripes.
Interpopulation variability. In comparison to our results, specimens examined by Kim (1980) are characterized by lower total number of vertebrae (39–41), a slightly deeper body (15.8–18.3 % SL), and a shorter snout (34.3– 46.6 % of head length). Probably, some of these differences result from the mixed nature of the sample studied by Kim (1980), comprised of males and females, and/or the size variability of characters, because the largest male and female in Kim’s material were only 65.7 and 81.5 mm SL, respectively, with smaller specimens predominant. Kim (1980) reported 10–18 dark-brown blotches in the fourth Gambetta’s zone; certainly he included the blotch at the lower part of the caudal fin base in this number.
The karyotype includes 15–17 meta- and submetacentric chromosomes, and 32–36 subtelo- and acrocentrics in specimens with 2n=49–51, NF=66 (Table 1). However, Kim & Lee (1988) reported the variability of the total chromosome number from 48 to 51, NF=66; the karyotype with 2n=48 was not described.
Etymology. The species name nalbanti is in honor of Romanian ichthyologist Theodor Nalbant, who made a great contribution to the taxonomy of a number of groups of fishes, including family Cobitidae, particularly in Korea.
Geographical distribution. Cobitis nalbanti is most probably endemic to rivers flowing into the Yellow Sea in the central Korean Peninsula. Material used in this study was collected in the Han and Geum rivers; our preliminary molecular phylogenetic studies (unpublished) demonstrated populations in rivers geographically between the Han and Geum rivers and in the Mangyeong River (south of Geum River) to be conspecific. Common names. Nalbant’s spined loach (proposed English name); jum-jool-jong-geh [점줄종개] (Korea). Comparative remarks. Cobitis nalbanti noticeably differs from its three congeners in South Korea by its color pattern, the shape of lamina circularis, and some morphometric characters (interorbital distance, barbel length, eye diameter). Cobitis choii has elongated knife-shaped lamina circularis with serrated edge; both males and females of C. tetralineata Kim, Park & Nalbant possess three to four dark-brown stripes on mid-lateral part of the body (Kim & Park, 2002; Kim, 2009). Cobitis hankugensis Kim, Park, Son & Nalbant has ovoid blotches in the fourth Gambetta’s zone, and a shorter interorbital distance (11–14% of head length) (Kim, 2009) versus rectangular blotches and a longer interorbital distance (14–19%) in C. nalbanti; additionally, the mandibular barbel in C. hankugensis is slightly longer than the eye diameter, whereas in C. nalbanti the mandibular barbel is significantly shorter (Table 3). Each of these four Cobitis species is confirmed as an independent phylogenetic lineage by a recent molecular phylogenetic study (Perdices et al., 2016).
Cobitis nalbanti has been identified as C. lutheri prior to this study (Kim, 1980, 1986, 2009; Kim et al., 1999; Nalbant et al., 2001; Kim & Park, 2002). Besides the pronounced karyological differences, C. nalbanti differs from C. lutheri by the following characters: a single dark stripe on the head, across the eye in C. nalbanti (vs. the presence of additional suborbital stripe and two dark stripes on the opercle in C. lutheri), an elongated snout (vs. obtuse snout), the suborbital spine not reaching the center of the eye (vs. often reaching or sometimes extending behind the center of the eye), the mandibular barbel not reaching the anterior edge of the eye (vs. often reaching or sometimes extending behind the anterior edge of the eye), the larger number of blotches in the fourth Gambetta’s zone (usually 12 or more vs. usually fewer than 12), and the absence of the second developed spot at the lower part of the caudal fin base (vs. two developed dark spots at the caudal fin base).
description: Published as part of Vasil'Eva, Ekaterina D., Kim, Daemin, Vasil'Ev, Victor P., Ko, Myeong-Hun & Won, Yong-Jin, 2016, Cobitis nalbanti, a new species of spined loach from South Korea, and redescription of Cobitis lutheri (Teleostei: Cobitidae), pp. 577-591 in Zootaxa 4208 (6) on pages 586-589, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4208.6.5, http://zenodo.org/record/215094