Descriptions of five new species of Neolissochilus Rainboth, 1985 (Cypriniformes: Cyprinidae) from streams/rivers of the Western Ghats, peninsular India
Muthukumarasamy ARUNACHALAM Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Sri Paramakalyani Centre for Environmental Sciences, Alwarkurichi–627 412, Tamil Nadu, India
Paramasivan SIVAKUMAR Research Department of Zoology, Poompuhar College (Autonomous), Melaiyur-609 107, Sirkali, Nagapattinam District, Tamil Nadu, India.
Manavalan MURUGAN Department of Biomedical Engineering, Noorul Islam Centre for Higher Education, Kumaracoil-629180,Kanyakumari District, Tamil Nadu. India
Abstract
The genus Neolissochilus was described by Rainboth, 1985 and currently includes 24 nominal taxa with distributions in southern and south-eastern Asia. Five new species of Neolissochilus are described herein from streams and rivers of the Western Ghats, peninsular India, one of the World’s hotspots of biodiversity. The new species include N. capudelphinus, N. minimus, N. micropthalmus, N. acutirostris and N. tamiraparaniensis. Neolissochilus wynaadensis (Day, 1873), also from the Western Ghats is considered a valid species. The five new species are described based on meristic, morphometric characters, and molecular data. Relationships among the newly described species and the relationships of Neolissochilus with Systomus (=Barbodes /Puntius), Hypselobarbus Bleeker and Tor Gray, all presumed closely related lineages are discussed.
