A New Species of Pethia from the Western Ghats, India (Teleostei: Cyprinidae) (original) (raw)

Pethia striata, new species, is described from the Tunga River in Kudremukh National Park, in the central part of the Western Ghats, Karnataka State, India. The new species is distinguished from its congeners by the combination of the following characters: absence of barbels; stiff and serrated last unbranched dorsal-fin ray; complete lateral line with 20-21 pored scales and a relatively small humeral spot one scale below the fourth lateral-line scale; a large black blotch covering lateral-line scales 17-19. In addition, the outer edges of body scales are dark, producing a striped pattern along the sides of the body. Pethia striata, new species, is presently known only from headwater-streams of the Tunga River basin. P ETHIYAGODA et al. (2012) distinguished the genus Pethia (type species Barbus nigrofasciatus, from Sri Lanka) from other genera of Cyprinidae by the last unbranched dorsal-fin ray being stiff and serrated, infraorbital 3 being deep and partially overlapping the preoperculum, the absence of rostral barbels, minute or no maxillary barbels, an often incomplete lateral line, black blotch on the caudal peduncle, black blotches, spots, or bars on the side of the body. The genus, which is restricted to South Asia, includes 28 valid species (