Cobitis afifeae, Freyhof & Bayçelebi & Geiger, 2018

Freyhof, Jörg, Bayçelebi, Esra & Geiger, Matthias, 2018, Review of the genus Cobitis in the Middle East, with the description of eight new species (Teleostei: Cobitidae), Zootaxa 4535 (1), pp. 1-75 : 41-45

Cobitis afifeae , new species

( Fig. 30–32 )

Holotype. ZFMK ICH-99950 , 67 mm SL; Turkey: Denizli prov.: Büyük Menderes River at Cindere about 9 km south of Güney , 38.083 29.014.

Paratypes. FSJF 3022 , 11 , 55–81 mm SL; same data as holotype .— FSJF 1874 , 13 , 52–86 mm SL; Turkey: Denizli prov.: spring running to Lake Işıklı at Işıklı , 38.321 29.851 .— FSJF 2315 , 1 , 59– 59 mm SL; Turkey: Aydın, prov.: tributary to stream Çine about 5 km west of Çine , 37.599 28.007 — FSJF 2535 , 6 , 58–71 mm SL; Turkey: Afyon prov.: stream west of Kızıllı and northwest of Dinar , 38.123 30.095 .— FSJF 2832 , 1 , 56– 44 mm SL; Turkey: Aydın prov.: stream Çine south of Eskiçine , 37.543 28.063 .— FSJF 3046 , 2 , 60–72 mm SL; Turkey: Afyon prov.: stream Küfü near to Saltık about 2 km west of Sandıklı , 38.483 30.073 .— FSJF 3080 , 13 , 38–74 mm SL; Turkey: Afyon prov.: stream Karadirek at Başağaç 15 km north of Sandıklı , 38.579 30.201 .— FSJF 3085 , 1 , 89 mm SL; Turkey: Afyon prov.: stream Karadirek at Karadirek 9 km north of Sandıklı , 38.553 30.196 .— FSJF 3716 , 2 , 60–71 mm SL; Turkey: Denizli prov.: Büyük Menderes at Yenicekent DSİ pomps, between Yenicekent and Mahmutlu, 38.037 28.964 .— FSJF 3708 , 1 , 60 mm SL; Turkey: Aydın prov.: Akçay River 10 km south of Nazilli , 37.810 28.315 .

Non-type materials. HUIC uncat., paratypes of C. v. kurui , 4, 40– 46 mm SL ; Turkey: Aydın prov.: Saplık bridge .

Material used in molecular genetic analysis. FSJF DNA-977; Turkey: Aydın prov.: stream Çine south of Eskiçine, 37.543 28.063. (GenBank accession number: KJ553162 ).—FSJF DNA-1513; Turkey: Denizli prov.: Büyük Menderes River at Cindere, 9 km south of Güney, 38.083 29.014. (GenBank accession numbers: KJ553126 , KJ552870 , KJ552978 ).—FSJF DNA-1520; Turkey: Afyon prov.: stream Karadirek at Başağaç, 10 km north of Sandıklı, 38.579 30.201. (GenBank accession numbers: KJ553164 , KJ553029 ).—FSJF DNA-2828; Turkey: Denizli prov.: River Büyük Menderes at Yenicekent DSİ pomps, between Yenicekent and Mahmutlu, 38.037 28.963. (BOLD accession number: EUFWF2724-18).—FSJF DNA-2841; Turkey: Aydın prov.: Akçay River 10 km south of Nazilli, 37.809 28.315. (BOLD accession number: EUFWF2732-18).—FSJF DNA-2914; Turkey: Aydın prov.: stream Akçay at Bogazyunt, 37.750 28.339. (GenBank accession number: MH795332 , MH795333 , MH795334 ).

Diagnosis. Cobiti s afifeae is distinguished from the other Cobitis species in the eastern Aegean Sea basin by a combination of characters, none of them unique. It is distinguished from C. dorademiri by having a narrower caudal peduncle (caudal-peduncle depth 0.6–0.9 times in caudal-peduncle length vs. 1.0–1.2) and the pigmentation below Z4 usually present along the complete flank (vs. pigmentation below Z4 absent or restricted to a short line or few dots below the pectoral fin and on the caudal peduncle).

Cobiti s afifeae is distinguished from C. phrygica by having a small, roundish or comma-shaped black spot at the upper caudal-fin base (vs. absent), elevated mental lobes, well-separated from the lower lip and usually produced into a short, barbel-like process (vs. mental lobe often indistinct from lower lip, rarely separated, not forming a barbel-like process), a bifurcate external part of the suborbital spine (vs. simple), a shorter prepelvic length (52–58% SL vs. 57–61), a greater caudal-peduncle length in the male (13–16% SL vs. 11–13) and a deeper caudal-peduncle depth in the female (10–12% SL vs. 9–10).

It is distinguished from C. strumicae by having one, very small black spot at the upper caudal-fin base (vs. two, large) and the flank below Z4 usually pigmented along its complete length (vs. no pigmentation below Z4). Cobiti s afifeae is distinguished from C. punctilineata by having a very small black spot at the upper caudal-fin base, smaller than pupil (vs. about size of pupil), Z2–4 usually well-distinguished above the anal-fin base (vs. usually fused in one mottled pattern) and blotches in Z4 often irregularly shaped, fused to each other (vs. usually roundish, well distinguished).

Cobiti s afifeae occurs in sympatry and often in syntopy with C. fahireae . It is distinguished from this species by having two laminae circularis in the male (vs. one) and the pigmentation below Z4 usually present along the complete flank (vs. pigmentation below Z4 absent).

Description. See Figures 30–32 for general appearance and Table 2 for morphometric data of the holotype and 19 paratypes. Greatest body depth at or slightly anterior to dorsal-fin origin, decreasing towards caudal-fin base. Head profile convex, head length 1.0–1.5 times in body depth. Snout blunt, its length 0.7–0.8 times in postorbital length. Eye diameter 0.2–0.4 times in head depth at eye, 0.2–1.7 times in interorbital width. Caudal peduncle 1.1– 1.6 times longer than deep.

Pelvic axillary lobe present or absent. Margin of dorsal fin convex, margin of anal fin convex or straight. Caudal fin truncate or slightly rounded. A shallow dorsal and ventral keel on caudal peduncle. Suborbital spine bifurcate, reaching beyond centre of eye. Largest recorded specimen 89 mm SL.

Dorsal fin with 3 unbranched and 6½ (10)–7½ (10) branched rays. Anal fin with 3 unbranched and 5½ (20) branched rays. Caudal fin with 7+7 branched rays, 7+ 6 in one individual. Pectoral fin with 7 (2), 8 (15) and 9 (3) branched rays and pelvic fin with 5 (17) and 6 (3) branched rays. Body covered by embedded scales, except on breast and belly. Scales small. Focal zone in subdorsal scales about 1/4 or 1/5 of vertical scale diameter. Lateral line short, with 2–7 pores. Lips ( Fig. 54 ) moderately thin, mental lobes of lower lip short, well separated from lower lip by a deep fold, produced into a short barbel-like process in most individuals. Rostral barbel reaching base of mandibular barbel. Mandibular barbel reaching to or slightly beyond vertical of nostril. Maxillary barbel reaching vertical of space between nare and eye or to front border or middle of eye.

Sexual dimorphism. Male have a longer pectoral fin than female (15–22% SL vs. 13–15) and two laminae circularis (vs. no).

Colouration. Background colour yellowish with a dark-brown pigmentation pattern formed by one mid-dorsal and four lateral zones, pigmentation below fourth zone usually present. Mid-dorsal pigmentation consisting in a series of 11–14 roundish or squarish blotches, regularly shaped. Z1 with many, small spots, vermiculation or irregularly shaped blotches, about as wide as Z2, not reaching dorsally to interspaces of mid-dorsal blotches. Z2 with spots of about ½–1 eye size, usually fused, forming a stripe. Zone Z2 usually present until caudal peduncle, reaching to vertical of dorsal-fin base in few individuals. Z3 formed by many, small spots confluent with Z1 and Z2 on caudal peduncle in many individuals. Z4 formed by many, small, usually vertically elongated blotches, irregularly shaped and often fused into a stripe or a band of blotches. Pigmentation below Z4 usually present, formed by few small spots, dusty fields of pigmentation, bands of small spots or medium-sized or large blotches. A single, small, sometimes very indistinct black spot at upper caudal-fin base. Upper part of head, opercle and snout covered by large spots. A darkbrown stripe from eye to snout usually present. Fins hyaline. Caudal fin with 6–8 and dorsal fin with 5–8 dark, sometimes irregular bars. Few dark-brown spots on paired fins. Barbels whitish or brown.

Etymology. Named for Afife Jale (1902–1941) a stage actress, best known as the first Muslim theatre actress in Turkey. A noun in genitive, indeclinable.

Distribution. Cobiti s afifeae is distributed in the Küçük Menderes and Büyük Menderes River drainages including the Işıklı Lake basin and the stream Karadirek, which flows underground to Işıklı Lake.

Remarks. The molecular data ( Fig. 1 ) place C. afifeae close to C. strumicae and C. punctilineata . Based on DNA barcoding it is well separated from all other included Cobitis , and by a minimum K2P distance of 7.9% to C. punctilineata . It is also supported by the PTP approach as one and by the mPTP delimitation as two entities.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Maximum likelihood estimation of the phylogenetic relationships based on the mitochondrial COI barcode region (TN93 model, discrete Gamma distribution for rate differences with 3 categories +G parameter = 0.3792. Nucleotide positions with less than 95% site coverage were eliminated, resulting in 590 analysed positions. Numbers of major nodes indicate bootstrap values from 1000 pseudoreplicates from the ML, NJ and MP method. A star denotes highest possible support from all three methods. Solid bars right to the specimen labels indicate species delimitation results from PTP followed by the results of the mPTP approach as dashed bars. Except to the outgroups and the branch to the right part of the figure, the tree is drawn to scale with branch lengths depicting number of substitutions per site.

FIGURE 30. Cobitis afifeae, left column from the top: males, ZFMK ICH-99950, holotype, 66 mm SL; paratypes, FSJF 3022, 54 mm SL, 52 mm SL, right column from the top: females, 75 mm SL, 76 mm SL, 74 mm SL; Turkey: Büyük Menderes River.

FIGURE 31. Cobitis afifeae, left column from the top: males, ZFMK ICH-99950, holotype, 66 mm SL; paratypes: FSJF 3022, 54 mm SL, FSJF 2535, 54 mm SL; right column from the top: females, FSJF 3022, 77 mm SL, 76 mm SL, 67 mm SL; Turkey: Büyük Menderes River drainage.

FIGURE 32. Cobitis afifeae, from the top: FSJF 3716, female, 60 mm SL, male, 71 mm SL; Turkey: Büyük Menderes River; FSJF 3085, female, 89 mm SL; Turkey: stream Karadirek; FSJF 3708, female, 59 mm SL; Turkey: Akçay River; FSJF 3080, male, 47 mm SL; Turkey: stream Karadirek.

FIGURE 54. Upper row: Cobitis afifeae, FSJF 3022, paratype, 76 mm SL; Turkey: Büyük Menderes River; C. aliyeae, FSJF 2427, paratype, female, 65 mm SL; Turkey: Seyhan River; C. anabelae, ZFMK ICH-98633, holotype, male, 53 mm SL; Turkey: Karasu River; C. emrei, FSJF 1960, paratype, female, 77 mm SL; Turkey: Lake Sapanca basin; Lower row: C. erkakanae, FSJF 2510, paratype, female, 68 mm SL; Turkey: canal at Lake Gölbaşı; C. joergbohleni, ZFMK ICH-97624, holotype, female, 60 mm SL; Turkey: spring Soysallı; C. pirii, FSJF 2474, paratype, female, 95 mm SL; Turkey: streams Çayköy; C. troasensis, FSJF 2383, paratype, female, 72 mm SL; Turkey: stream Tuzla.