Ponticola patimari, new species, is described from the Kheirud River, southern Caspian Sea basin, Iran. It is distinguished from its congeners in Iran by having the following features: D1 VI, D2 I / 15½–18½, A I / 11½–13½; mottled bars on flanks, small scattered spots on pectoral-fin base, cycloid scales covering upper part of opercle, longer least depth of caudal peduncle, longer ventral disc, reaching corner of lip to middle of orbit, longer interorbital width / eye diameter, pelvic fin reaching to anus or even extending beyond anus, two dark brown spots under orbital and 3 fixed diagnostic nucleotide substitutions in the mtDNA COI barcode region. Ponticola patimari sp. nov. belongs to P. syrman group and it is separated by a minimum K2P distance of 3.0 and 3.4% from P. iranicus and P. syrman, respectively.