taxonID	type	description	language	source
03EEBA7B757DFFB4FF294BB62792FD7A.taxon	materials_examined	Holotype: WII / NWR / Type _ F 04, 53.0 mm, SL, Mahadeo stream, near Pachmarhi, Satpura Tiger Reserve, Narmadapuram District, Madhya Pradesh, India (22.4164 ° N, 78.4252 ° E, 1129 m above mean sea level); M. Ghosh, 4 June 2022. Paratypes: WII / NWR / Type _ F 05, 9 ex. 31.0 – 45.0 mm SL, same data as holotype.	en	Ghosh, Meghma, Bhat, Anuradha, Johnson, Jeyaraj Antony (2025): Indoreonectes mahadeoensis, a new species of river loach from headwaters of the Narmada River, India (Teleostei: Nemacheilidae). Zootaxa 5693 (4): 537-550, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5693.4.5, URL: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5693.4.5
03EEBA7B757DFFB4FF294BB62792FD7A.taxon	diagnosis	Diagnosis. Indoreonectes mahadeoensis is distinguished from all its congeners by the presence of 8 branched rays in the dorsal fin, 7 branched rays in the anal fin, and by a unique combination of the following characters: nasal barbels reaching anterior border of eye, dorsal-fin origin positioned posterior to vertical line drawn from pelvic-fin origin, and broken bars along lateral surface of body. In addition, Indoreonectes mahadeoensis can be separated from its congeners by a divergence of 11.2 to 18.6 % (uncorrected P-distance) in the mitochondrial cyt b gene sequences.	en	Ghosh, Meghma, Bhat, Anuradha, Johnson, Jeyaraj Antony (2025): Indoreonectes mahadeoensis, a new species of river loach from headwaters of the Narmada River, India (Teleostei: Nemacheilidae). Zootaxa 5693 (4): 537-550, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5693.4.5, URL: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5693.4.5
03EEBA7B757DFFB4FF294BB62792FD7A.taxon	description	Description. Body almost cylindrical at anterior, sub-cylindrical towards middle and, elongated and laterally compressed towards posterior end. At dorsal-fin origin, body width 7.4 to 11.8 times in standard length and depth 5.2 to 8.0 times in standard length. Head conical (Fig. 2 A), its length 3.6 to 4.6 times in standard length. Snout round and smooth, its length 2.3 to 2.6 times in head length. Eye dorso-laterally positioned, closer to tip of snout than to posterior margin of operculum. Eye diameter 4.5 to 7.3 times in head length, and inter-orbital width 2.2 to 2.6 times in head length. Pre-dorsal outline convex gradually rising up to dorsal-fin origin. A distinct hump behind nape, and post-dorsal outline rising up to base of caudal fin. Caudal peduncle short, its length as equal to caudal peduncle depth. Scales minute, embedded in skin. Mouth ventral, semi-circular, with thick, fleshy lips. Upper lip continuous and lower lip interrupted medially by groove (Fig. 2 B). Barbels 4 pairs. Nasal barbel well-developed (Fig. 2 C), 2 pairs of rostral barbels (1 outer rostral barbel and 1 inner rostral barbel), maxillary barbel and outer rostral barbel almost equal in length. Nasal barbel long, reaching in front of eye. Inner rostral barbel reaching posteriorly to anterior margin of eye. Maxillary barbel not reaching posterior border of operculum. Dorsal-fin origin slightly posterior to vertical from pelvic-fin origin, its insertion closer to caudal-fin base than tip of snout. Dorsal fin with 3 * (10) simple and 8 * (10) branched rays, its origin positioned posterior to vertical line drawn from pelvic-fin origin. Pectoral fin with 1 * (10) simple and 8 (7), 9 * (3), branched rays, its length equal to head length. Pelvic fin with 1 * (10) simple and 6 (1), 7 * (9) branched rays, its length almost equal to head length. Anal fin with 3 * (10) simple and 7 * (10) branched rays, its length 1.2 to 1.5 times head length. Caudal fin rounded, with 9 + 9 * (10) branched rays. Coloration in life. Body pale yellow, darker on dorsal, than lateral profile. Brownish-black irregular broken bars on lateral and dorsal side of body. Lateral and dorsal side bars separate from each other. Lateral bars narrower than inter-bar spaces. Complete bars present along caudal peduncle. A conspicuous spot on dorsal side of head, in addition to several head spots (Fig. 2 A). Lower and upper lips grey in colour due to concentrated pigments (Fig. 2 B), no spots on cheeks (Fig. 2 C). Dorsal-fin anterior spot well developed. Dorsal-fin membrane hyaline with 3 rows of black spots on rays (1 complete row and 2 incomplete rows). Pelvic, pectoral and anal fins hyaline. Caudal fin also hyaline, with 4 rows of dark brown spots on rays; last row towards tip comparatively darker than remaining rows (Fig. 1).	en	Ghosh, Meghma, Bhat, Anuradha, Johnson, Jeyaraj Antony (2025): Indoreonectes mahadeoensis, a new species of river loach from headwaters of the Narmada River, India (Teleostei: Nemacheilidae). Zootaxa 5693 (4): 537-550, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5693.4.5, URL: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5693.4.5
03EEBA7B757DFFB4FF294BB62792FD7A.taxon	biology_ecology	Habitat. Indoreonectes mahadeoensis was collected from a deep gorge-like area mainly composed of undercut bedrock and large boulders (Fig. 3). The substratum was filled with sand and gravel. The habitat was characterized by the presence of riffles, that were either flowing to meet their downstream tributaries, or ending up in small pools. The water quality parameters recorded during specimen collection (June 2022) were: temperature 23.5 ° C, pH 7.76, conductivity 51 µS and dissolved oxygen 5.3 mg / l. The riparian vegetation along the entire stretch of the riverscape comprised primarily Terminalia arjuna (Arjuna) and Syzygium cumini (Jamun). Indoreonectes mahadeoensis cooccurs with Devario aequipinnatus and Garra mullya.	en	Ghosh, Meghma, Bhat, Anuradha, Johnson, Jeyaraj Antony (2025): Indoreonectes mahadeoensis, a new species of river loach from headwaters of the Narmada River, India (Teleostei: Nemacheilidae). Zootaxa 5693 (4): 537-550, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5693.4.5, URL: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5693.4.5
03EEBA7B757DFFB4FF294BB62792FD7A.taxon	etymology	Etymology The species is named after its type locality — Mahadeo stream, flowing across the Gupt Mahadeo Temple near Pachmarhi hills, within the Satpura Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh, Central India.	en	Ghosh, Meghma, Bhat, Anuradha, Johnson, Jeyaraj Antony (2025): Indoreonectes mahadeoensis, a new species of river loach from headwaters of the Narmada River, India (Teleostei: Nemacheilidae). Zootaxa 5693 (4): 537-550, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5693.4.5, URL: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5693.4.5
03EEBA7B757DFFB4FF294BB62792FD7A.taxon	discussion	Genetic divergence and phylogeny Our cyt b gene dataset comprised 1067 base pairs. Both ML and BI analyses resulted in the same tree topology (Fig. 4) and was largely congruent with Jadhav et al. (2024). Indoreonectes mahadeoensis was recovered within Indoreonectes, and showed a sister group relationship with I. amrabad, I evezardi, I. kalsubai, I. neeleshi and I. telanganaensis, but with low bootstrap value (UFB 58), and strong posterior probability value (PP 1) (Fig. 4). The uncorrected P-distance in the cyt b gene sequences between Indoreonectes mahadeoensis and its congeners ranges between 11.2 – 18.6 % (Table 2).	en	Ghosh, Meghma, Bhat, Anuradha, Johnson, Jeyaraj Antony (2025): Indoreonectes mahadeoensis, a new species of river loach from headwaters of the Narmada River, India (Teleostei: Nemacheilidae). Zootaxa 5693 (4): 537-550, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5693.4.5, URL: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5693.4.5
