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Wednesday, May 22nd, 2024
| Time | Event | ||||||||
| 2:03a | [Ichthyology • 2024] Tachysurus wuyueensis • A New Species of Catfish (Siluriformes: Bagridae) from the Qiantang-Jiang Basin, southeast China
Abstract Tachysurus wuyueensis, new species, is described from the Qiantang-Jiang Basin, situated in Suichang County, Zhejiang Province and Xiuning County, Anhui Province, southeast China. The coastal basin drains into the East China Sea. The new species belongs to the T. pratti-T. truncatus group within the genus Tachysurus defined by having a smooth anterior margin of the pectoral-fin spine, short maxillary barbels not extending beyond the base of the pectoral-fin spine, short dorsal spine not exceeding two thirds of head length and an emarginated caudal fin. This new species is distinct from all other species of this group, Tachysurus pratti (Gunther, 1892), T. truncatus (Regan 1913), T. gracilis (Li, Chen & Chan, 2005) and T. brachyrhabdion (Cheng, Ishihara & Zhang, 2008), in having a shorter prepelvic body (length 40.0–46.4% of SL vs. 45.8–54.8%). It further differs from T. pratti, T. truncatus and T. gracilis in having more vertebrae (45–47 vs. 37–44) and more anal fin rays (21–25 vs. 14–20), from T. brachyrhabdion in having a more slender body (depth 10.1–13.5% of HL vs. 13.1–17.6%). Molecular phylogeny, based on the mitochondrial cytochrome b (cyt. b) gene confirms the validity of T. wuyueensis and the T. pratti-T. truncatus group. Furthermore, this study addresses the diagnostic traits distinguishing the T. pratti-T. truncatus group from the T. tenuis-T. crassilabris group which have historically been treated as a single species group due to morphological similarities. Key Words: Caudal fin shape, new taxon, stream-dewelling species, taxonomy  Tachysurus wuyueensis Zhou, Yuan & Shao, sp. nov. Diagnosis: Distinguished from its congeners by the following combination of characters: a smooth anterior margin of the pectoral-fin spine, short maxillary barbels not extending beyond the base of the pectoral-fin spine, short dorsal spine not exceeding two-thirds of head length, prepelvic length 40.0–46.4% SL, 45–47 vertebrae, 21–25 anal-fin rays, body depth 10.1–13.5% SL, a slightly emarginated caudal fin. Etymology: The specific epithet is based on the two rival states Wu and Yue which were bordered by the Qiantang-Jiang in southeast China more than 2000 years ago. The onomatopoeic Chinese sound of this species is “Wu Yue Ni Chang”. Jia-Jun Zhou, Le-Yang Yuan and Wei-Han Shao. 2024. Tachysurus wuyueensis (Teleostei, Bagridae), A New Species of Catfish from the Qiantang-Jiang Basin, southeast China. Zoosystematics and Evolution. 100(2): 583-595. DOI: 10.3897/zse.100.120676 | ||||||||
| 10:19a | [Mollusca • 2020] Ocenebra vazzanai • The More You Search, the More You Find: A New Mediterranean Endemism of the Genus Ocenebra Gray, 1847 (Gastropoda: Muricidae) from a Submarine Cave of the Messina Strait Area (Italy)
Abstract Three hundred years of study on the Mediterranean molluscan fauna led the scientific community to consider it as the best ever known. However, the rate at which new taxa are discovered and described every year is still remarkably high, even in key predators such as Muricidae Rafinesque, 1815. Within this family, the genus Ocenebra Gray, 1847 comprises species widely distributed in the northeastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea that were already the target of a decadal nomenclatural, morphological, and molecular combined research. Notwithstanding, we hereby describe an additional ocenebrid endemism from the Mediterranean Sea, whose distribution appears to be restricted to a circalittoral submarine cave of the Messina Strait area (Italy). The new species Ocenebra vazzanai is compared with the recent Atlanto-Mediterranean congeneric taxa on the basis of the known type materials, and a table summarizing the main diagnostic features of the species is offered to facilitate future identifications. The high biodiversity highlighted in the genus Ocenebra reveals a wide adaptive radiation and suggests the necessity of further studies aiming to tackle biodiversity issues even in popular groups, such as molluscs, and in widely studied biogeographic areas, such as Italy, and the Mediterranean basin in general. Keywords: mussel drills; adaptive radiation; biodiversity; alpha taxonomy; Ocenebra vazzanai new species  Phylum Mollusca Cuvier, 1797 Class Gastropoda Cuvier, 1795 Subclass Caenogastropoda Cox, 1960 Order Neogastropoda Wenz, 1938 Superfamily Muricoidea Rafinesque, 1815 Family Muricidae Rafinesque, 1815 Subfamily Ocenebrinae Cossmann, 1903 Genus Ocenebra Gray, 1847
Ocenebra vazzanai new species Fabio Crocetta, Roland Houart and Giuseppe Bonomolo. 2020. The More You Search, the More You Find: A New Mediterranean Endemism of the Genus Ocenebra Gray, 1847 (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Muricidae) from a Submarine Cave of the Messina Strait Area (Italy). J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 8(6), 443. DOI: 10.3390/jmse8060443 twitter.com/PaleoCase (This article belongs to the Special Issue Benthic Biodiversity in the Northeastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea) | ||||||||
| 2:01p | [Ichthyology • 2024] Phylogenetic and Phylogeographic insights into Sri Lankan Killifishes (Teleostei: Cyprinodontiformes: Aplocheilidae)
Abstract Three nominal species of the killifish genus Aplocheilus are reported from the lowlands of Sri Lanka. Two of these, Aplocheilus dayi and Aplocheilus werneri, are considered endemic to the island, whereas Aplocheilus parvus is reported from both Sri Lanka and Peninsular India. Here, based on a collection from 28 locations in Sri Lanka, also including a dataset of Asian Aplocheilus downloaded from GenBank, we present a phylogeny constructed from the mitochondrial cytochrome b (cytb), mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (cox1), and nuclear recombination activating protein 1 (rag1), and investigate the interrelationships of the species of Aplocheilus in Sri Lanka. The endemic Sri Lankan aplocheilid clade comprising A. dayi and A. werneri is recovered as the sister group to the clade comprising A. parvus from Sri Lanka and Aplocheilus blockii from Peninsular India. The reciprocal monophyly of A. dayi and A. werneri is not supported in our molecular phylogeny. A. dayi and A. werneri display strong sexual dimorphism, but species-level differences are subtle, explained mostly by pigmentation patterns. Their phenotypes exhibit a parapatric distribution and may represent locally adapted forms of a single species. Alternatively, the present study does not rule out the possibility that A. dayi and A. werneri may represent an incipient species pair or that they have undergone introgression or hybridization in their contact zones. We provide evidence that the Nilwala-Gin region of southwestern Sri Lanka may have acted as a drought refugium for these fishes. Keywords: Aplocheilus, Cyprinodontiformes, phylogeography, sexual dichromatism
 Hiranya Sudasinghe, Tharindu Ranasinghe, Kumudu Wijesooriya, Lukas Rüber and Madhava Meegaskumbura. 2024. Phylogenetic and Phylogeographic insights into Sri Lankan Killifishes (Teleostei: Aplocheilidae). Journal of Fish Biology. DOI: 10.1111/jfb.15792    | ||||||||
| 3:38p | [Mollusca • 2023] Hidden Lineages in the Mountains: The Genus Glyptaulax Gude, 1914 and Maelamaodiscus gen. nov. (Heterobranchia: Stylommatophora: Charopidae and Ariophantidae) with Description of Two New Species from Western Thailand
Abstract The Tenasserim Range runs from north to south and forms not only a natural border between Thailand and Myanmar, but also the backbone of the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot, which is rich in endemic species, especially of the malacofauna. Knowledge of land snail diversity in Thailand is continuously expanding and being refined, and various groups have been revised recently. From field surveys throughout the country, unique snails with delicate shell shape and sculpture hidden in mountainous areas have been discovered and described. Firstly, a new species of the Charopidae, Glyptaulax spectabilis sp. nov. has round tubercles arranged on spiral ridges. Second, Maelamaodiscus somsakpanhai gen. et sp. nov. of the Ariophantidae is described from the Moei River Basin. These new taxa differ from all Southeast Asian ariophantids by having a prominent radial ridge, peculiar aperture with wide sinulus, and an impression on the last whorl. This discovery of endemic taxa reflects the high biodiversity in this region, and suggests that many more land snail treasures are still waiting to be revealed. Keywords: endemism, limestone, Pulmonata, systematics, Tenasserim Range   Maelamaodiscus somsakpanhai gen. et sp. nov.  Chirasak Sutcharit and Arthit Pholyotha. 2023. Hidden Lineages in the Mountains: The Genus Glyptaulax Gude, 1914 and Maelamaodiscus gen. nov. (Heterobranchia: Stylommatophora: Charopidae and Ariophantidae) with Description of Two New Species from Western Thailand. Tropical Natural History. Supplement 7;123-138.  |
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