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Issue: Vol. 5647 No. 5: 18 Jun. 2025
Type: Article
Published: 2025-06-18
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5647.5.4
Page range: 461-468
Abstract views: 95
PDF downloaded: 4

The collection of Sri Lankan freshwater fishes reported on by Pieter Bleeker (1863) (Osteichthyes: Cyprinidae, Danionidae, Nemacheilidae)

Division of Evolutionary Ecology; Institute of Ecology and Evolution; University of Bern; 3012 Bern; Switzerland; Naturhistorisches Museum Bern; Bernastrasse; 15; 3005 Bern; Switzerland
Rue des Rauraques 6; 2800 Delémont; Switzerland (permanent address); Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum; National University of Singapore; 2 Conservatory Drive; Singapore 117377
Ichthyology Section; Australian Museum; 1 William Street; Sydney; NSW 2010; Australia
Pisces Devario micronema Devario monticola Schistura notostigma type Ceylon

Abstract

The whereabouts of the types of the six species of Sri Lankan cypriniform fishes described by Pieter Bleeker in 1863 have long remained unknown. These specimens are now reported from the collection of the Naturalis Biodiversity Centre in Leiden, the Netherlands. Here we provide meristic and morphometric data on (as well as photographs of) the type specimens in this collection. These include the three syntypes of Garra ceylonensis, the holotype of Systomus pleurotaenia, the holotype of Devario micronema, one of the three syntypes of Devario lineolatus, and the three syntypes of Schistura notostigma. The five syntypes of Plesiopuntius bimaculatus, though present, are in a very poor state. Devario lineolatus (Bleeker), for which the replacement name D. monticola has previously been proposed, is a junior subjective synonym of D. malabaricus (Jerdon). Devario micronema is the species that occurs in the lowlands of south-western Sri Lanka. An examination of the three syntypes of Schistura notostigma shows it to be distinct from S. madhavai and S. scripta.

 

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How to Cite

Sudasinghe, H., Kottelat, M. & Pethiyagoda, R. (2025) The collection of Sri Lankan freshwater fishes reported on by Pieter Bleeker (1863) (Osteichthyes: Cyprinidae, Danionidae, Nemacheilidae). Zootaxa, 5647 (5), 461–468. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5647.5.4