Abstract
Leptobotia micra, new species, is described from the upper Li River (Pearl River basin) around Guilin in Guangxi province, southern China. The new species is evidently the smallest species of Leptobotia, with females of 45‒46 mm SL bearing oocytes. It can be distinguished from all other species of Leptobotia by a combination of the following characters: no dark bars or dorsal saddles on body, a row of white dots along dorsal midline, 4+34 vertebrae, a predorsal distance of 58.1‒59.0% SL, eye diameter 1.8‒2.0 % SL, pelvic fins not reaching anus, an emarginated caudal fin (length of median rays 1.3‒1.4 times in length of lower lobe) and the anus positioned distinctly closer to anal-fin origin than to pelvic-fin base.
References
Aquatic Research Institute of Guangxi (2006) Freshwater fishes of Guangxi, China. 2nd Edition. Guangxi People's Publishing House, Beijing, 535 pp. [in Chinese]
Bohlen, J., Šlechtová, V., Šlechta, V., Šlechtová, V., Sember, A. & Ráb, P. (2016) A ploidy difference represents an impassable barrier for hybridisation in animals. Is there an exception among botiid loaches (Teleostei: Botiidae)? PLoS ONE, 11 (7), e0159311. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0159311
Bohlen, J. & Šlechtová, V. (2016) Leptobotia bellacauda, a new species of loach from the lower Yangtze basin in China (Teleostei: Cypriniformes: Botiidae). Zootaxa, 4205 (1), 65–72.
https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4205.1.5Chen, J.-X. (1980) A study on the classification of the botoid fishes of China. Zoological Research, 1, 3‒26.
Chen, J.-X. & Lan, J.-H. (1992) Description of a new genus and three new species of fishes from Guangxi, China (Cypriniformes: Cyprinidae, Cobitidae). Acta Zootaxonomica Sinica, 17, 104‒109.
Fang, P.W. (1936) Study on the botiid fishes of China. Sinensia, 7 (1), 1‒49.
Fang, S.-M. & Hsu, T.-C. (1980) On a new subspecies of botoid fishes, Leptobotia tientaiensis hansuiensis, from Langao, Shanxi, China. Zoological Research, 1 (2), 265‒268. [in Chinese, English summary]
Fu, T. & Ye, M. (1983) On a new species of the family Cobitidae Leptobotia microphthalma, sp. nov. Zoological Research, 4, 121‒124.
Huckstorf, V. (2013) Leptobotia elongata. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, 2013, e.T166035A1107235.
https://doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T166035A1107235.enKottelat, M. (1990) Indochinese nemacheilines. A revision of nemacheiline loaches (Pisces: Cypriniformes) of Thailand, Burma, Laos, Cambodia and southern Viet Nam. Pfeil Verlag, München, 262 pp.
Kottelat, M. (2004) Botia kubotai, a new species of loach (Teleostei: Cobitidae) from the Ataran River basin (Myanmar), with comments on botiinae nomenclature and diagnosis of a new genus. Zootaxa, 401 (1), 1‒18.
https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.401.1.1Kottelat, M. (2012) Conspectus Cobitidum: An inventory of the loaches of the world (Teleostei: Cypriniformes: Cobitoidei). The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, 26 (Supplement), 1‒199.
Li, J., Li, X.-H. & Chen, X.-L. (2008) A new species of the genus Leptobotia from Guangxi, China (Cypriniformes Cobitidae). Acta Zootaxonomica Sinica, 33 (3), 630‒633. [in Chinese; English abstract.]
Nalbant, T.T. (2002) Sixty million years of evolution. Part one: family Botiidae (Pisces: Ostariophysi: Cobitoidea). Travaux du Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle "Grigore Antipa", 44, 309‒333.
Šlechtov, V., Bohlen, J., Freyhof, J. & Ráb, P. (2006) Molecular phylogeny of the Southeast Asian freshwater fish family Botiidae (Teleostei: Cobitoidea) and the origin of polyploidy in their evolution. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 39 (2), 529‒541.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2005.09.018Xu, T.Q., Fang, S.M. & Wang, H.Y. (1981) A new species of fishes of the genus Leptobotia (family Cobitidae) from China. Zoological Research, 2, 379‒381.
Ye, E.Q., Xing, Y.C., Zhang, C.G. & Zhao, Y.H. (2015) Catalogue of the type specimens in the fish collection of the National Zoological Museum, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. Zootaxa, 3962 (2), 10‒113.
https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3962.1.4Yuan, Y., Yang, H., Gong, S. & Liang, Y. (2010) Threatened fishes of the world: Leptobotia elongata Bleeker, 1870 (Bottiinae). Environmental Biology of Fishes, 87, 295–296.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-010-9582-4Zhu, S.-Q. (1995) Synopsis of freshwater fishes of China. Jiangsu Science and Technology Publishing House, Nanjing, 549 pp. [in Chinese, English summary]