Garra surgifrons Zhou & Sun, 2018

Sun, Chao, Li, Xu, Zhou, Wei & Li, Fenglian, 2018, A review of Garra (Teleostei: Cypriniformes) from two rivers in West Yunnan, China with description of a new species, Zootaxa 4378 (1), pp. 49-70 : 62-65

Garra surgifrons Zhou & Sun , sp. nov.

( Figs. 4A and 10 )

Garra salweenica : Zhang 2005 (in part): 14 ( Daying-jiang in Yingjiang , Yunnan); Chen, 2013 (in part): 311 (Longchuangjiang, Yunnan, China).

Holotype. SWFC 1207020 , 143.0 mm SL, Yunnan: Tengchong: Mangbang (24°56'4.56''N, 98°41'49.12''E), Longchuang-jiang, an upper tributary of the Irrawaddy River drainage ; collected by Xu Li and Xi He on 24 Jul. 2012.

Paratypes. SWFC 1501007, 1 ex., 141.6 mm SL, collecting locality same as holotype, collected by Kuancan Liu and Keguo Han on 11 Jan. 2015. The following all paratypes collected from Yunnan: Lianghe: Mengyang (24°31'26.93'' N, 98°16'52.46'' E), Longchuan-jiang, an upper tributary of the Irrawaddy River drainage, SWFC 0 502071, 1 ex., 111.8 mm SL, collected by Wei Zhou and Xu Li on 27 Feb. 2005; SWFC 1501057–1501059, 3 ex., 102.7–108.5 mm SL, collected by Kuancan Liu and Keguo Han on 11 Jan. 2015.

Diagnosis. Garra surgifrons is distinguished from its congeners without a proboscis or with a unilobed proboscis in Southeast Asia and China by having a lobulate proboscis. It can be differentiated from G. bispinosa with a bi-lobed proboscis by having a tri-lobed proboscis. This species is closely related to G. cyrano , G. fuliginosa , G. orientalis , and G. salweenica and is further distinguished from them by the following combination of characters: absence of marks or spots on the dorsal fin and caudal fin (vs. with black spots at the base of the branched dorsalfin rays and black blotch on the upper caudal-fin lobe in G. salweenica ); dorsal profile of the body from the occipital to dorsal-fin origin almost straight (vs. obviously raised in G. orientalis and G. salweenica ); posterior margin of the mental adhesive disc extending to or beyond the central vertical line of the eye, and not reaching the posterior margin of the eye (vs. beyond the posterior margin of the eye in G. orientalis and G. salweenica ); proboscis short and wide, roughly quadrate shaped from the dorsal view (vs. the proboscis long and roughly triangular shaped from the dorsal view in G. clavirostris , G. cyrano , G. fuliginosa , G. montisalsi , G. orientalis , G. tamangi , and G. salweenica ); middle lobe of the proboscis poorly developed and slightly convex in the dorsal view, its front not suspended and its width almost equal to the width of the lateral lobes (vs. middle lobe of the proboscis well-developed, its front obviously suspended and projected forward, its width much larger than lateral lobes in G. clavirostris , G. cyrano , G. fuliginosa , G. montisalsi , G. orientalis , G. salweenica , and G. tamangi ); transverse lobe and front area of the proboscis only with some dense or scattered tiny tubercles (vs. with heavily dense and large tubercles in G. clavirostris , G. cyrano , G. fuliginosa , G. montisalsi , G. orientalis , G. salweenica , and G. tamangi ); transverse lobe small, with a shallow transverse groove across the snout (vs. transverse lobe larger, with a deep transverse groove across the snout in G. clavirostris , G. cyrano , G. fuliginosa , G. montisalsi , G. orientalis , G. salweenica , G. tamangi ); predorsal scales 9 (vs. 10–11 in G. tamangi ); presence of an anterolateral lobe of the lower lip (vs. absence in G. trilobata ); lateral-line scales 32–34 (vs. 31–32 in G. trilobata ).

Description. Morphometric and meristic data are shown in Tables 3 and 4. Body elongate. Dorsal profile of body from occipital to dorsal-fin origin almost straight. Body depth 122.5–130.5% head depth, 18.8–21.2% SL; caudal-peduncle depth 10.6–13.9% SL. Body slightly cylindrical at anterior, gradually compressed behind dorsalfin base and ventral surface, flattened from head to anal-fin origin. Head relatively large and depressed, wide and slightly quadrate from dorsal view; head length greater than width, width greater than depth. Interorbital space wide and flat, slightly convex; width slightly smaller than snout length. Snout broadly blunt and trapezoidal shaped from dorsal view, a transverse shallow groove across tip of snout forming an undeveloped transverse lobe covered by some moderately sized tubercles. Distance between transverse lobe and proboscis large, almost equal to eye diameter. Proboscis well-developed; profile of head from dorsal view falls abruptly at tip of proboscis; few tiny tubercles on tip, remainder smooth. Proboscis tri-lobed, short and broad, approximately quadrate shaped from dorsal view; middle lobe of proboscis poorly developed, rounded and blunt, tip not free and width almost equal to width of lateral lobes. Mouth inferior, transverse, large, semicircular. Rostral cap curved ventrally, connected with lower lip at corners of mouth, covered with small, round, soft papillae arranged in numerous distinct rows and penicillate near outer margin. Upper lip absent. Upper jaw entirely covered by rostral cap. Lower lip thick, fleshy, specialized as oval mental adhesive disc. Disc length 153.7–166.8% its width, posterior margin of disc only extending to or meeting the central vertical line of eye; callous pad present in middle of the disc. Central callous pad broad, smooth; length shorter than width. Lateral and posterior margin of disc surrounding central callous pad easily distinguished, free; relatively wide; covered with equally large papillae. Anterior edge of central callous pad modified into transverse, crescent, fleshy fold of skin covered with numerous papillae; fleshy fold of skin posteriorly separated from the central callous pad by a deep groove. Anterolateral lobe present near corner of mouth. Eyes moderately large, dorsal-laterally located, not visible from ventral view. Nares located in front of eyes, closer to anterior margin of eye than to tip of snout. Two pairs of small barbels; rostral pair shorter than eye diameter and longer than maxillary pair.

Collecting locality: All specimens come from China. G. surgifrons sp. nov. — Yunnan: Lianghe: Mengyang ; Yunnan: Tengchong: Mangbang. G. bispinosa — Yunnan: Yingjiang: Nabang. G. orientalis — Yunnan: Funing: Boai ; Guangxi: Duan: Longwan ; Guizhou: Zhenfeng: Beipan—jiang ; Hainan: Baisha: Yacha ; Fujian: Nanping: Yanping. G. qiaojiensis — Yunnan: Tengchong: Beihai (=Daju) ; Yunnan: Tengchong: Mangbang ; Yunnan: Tengchong: Tuantian ; Yunnan: Lianghe: Mengyang. G. rotundinasus — Yunnan: Yingjiang: Mangyun ; Yunnan: Yingjiang: Nabang ; Yunnan: Tengchong: Houqiao ; Yunnan: Yingjiang: Sudian ; Yunnan: Yingjiang: Tongbiguan ; Yunnan: Tengchong: Houqiao. G. salweenica — Yunnan: Longling: Sanjiangkou ; Yunnan: Longyang (=Baoshan): Mangbang ; Yunnan: Lushui: Hongqiba.

Dorsal fin with two simple and 8 branched rays; last simple dorsal-fin ray not ossified, its length longer than head. Dorsal-fin origin located anterior to pelvic-fin origin, closer to snout tip than to caudal-fin base. Paired fins ventrally placed. Pectoral fin with one simple and 13 branched rays; its origin close to gill opening. Pectoral-fin length slightly longer than head length and shorter than caudal-fin length, not extending to pelvic-fin origin. Pectoral-fin tip extends 3–4 scales anterior to pelvic-fin origin. Pelvic fin with one simple and 8 branched rays; its length greater than or equal to head length, shorter than pectoral-fin length. Pelvic-fin origin approximately at midpoint of body, inserted vertically below base of 2nd or 3rd branched dorsal-fin rays. Tip of pelvic fin extending to or slightly beyond anus; 11–12 scales between pelvic-fin and anal-fin origins. Anus conspicuously closer to anal-fin origin than to pelvic-fin origin, distance between anus and anal-fin origin 18.5–29.9% pelvic-fin origin to anal-fin origin; separated from anal-fin origin by 2–3 scales. Anal fin with two simple and 5 branched rays; its length shorter than pelvic-fin and head lengths. Distal margin of anal fin slightly curved; tip of anal fin not extending to caudal-fin base. Anal-fin origin separated from caudal-fin base by 9–10 scales. Caudal fin forked, lobes pointed; shortest rays shorter than or equal to 50% of longest rays; 9+8 principal rays.

Lateral line complete with 32–34 perforated scales; 4 1/2 scale rows above lateral line, 2–3 below; 16 circumpeduncular scales; 9 predorsal scales, slightly smaller than flank scales. Chest and abdomen covered with scales.

Coloration in Preservative. Body brown dorsally and laterally without bands or marks. Gray ventrally. Dorsal, pectoral, pelvic, and anal fins grey-brown. Caudal fin brown without marks or blotches; lower lobe darker than upper lobe.

Distribution. Currently, G. surgifrons is only known from the Longchuan-jiang, an upper tributary of the Irrawaddy River basin in west Yunnan, China.

Etymology. From the Latin surg-, meaning rising, and the Latin frons, meaning forehead. An allusion to the obvious, quadrate-shaped and well-developed proboscis on the forehead. Used as an adjective in apposition.

Habitat. Inhabits benthic zones of rivers over substrates consisting of gravel and rock.

Remark. Zhang (2005) indicated that G. orientalis was not distributed in the Irrawaddy River basin and the material previously reported as G. orientalis might contain two species: G. bispinosa and either G. salweencia or G. surgifrons . It still remains a possibility that G. salweencia is indeed distributed in the Irrawaddy River basin of China, but it has not yet been found.

Collecting localities are the same as Table 3.

Figures

FIGURE 4. Morphological comparisons of the snout and mental adhesive disc among three species of Garra from west Yunnan.

FIGURE 10. Garra surgifroNs, new species. SWFC 1207020, holotype, 143.0 mm SL; Yunnan: Lianghe: Mengyang: Longchuan-jiang, an uppertributary of Irrawaddy River; dorsal, lateral, and ventral views.