Hemibagrus menoda (Hamilton, 1822)

Ng, Heok Hee & Kottelat, Maurice, 2013, Revision Of The Asian Catfish Genus Hemibagrus Bleeker, 1862 (Teleostei: Siluriformes: Bagridae), Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 61 (1), pp. 205-291 : 224

HEMIBAGRUS MENODA SPECIES GROUP

Artificial key to the members of the H. menoda species group

1. Sides of body with thin black vertical lines and thin midlateral line (Alas River drainage)...................................... H. caveatus

– Sides of body with spots arranged in vertical columns..........2

2. Eye diameter 14–16% HL; dorsal to adipose distance 16–19% SL (Cauvery River drainage). .............................. H. punctatus

– Eye diameter 11–14% HL; dorsal to adipose distance 10–15% SL.............................................................................................3

3. Snout rounded when viewed from above ( Fig. 12 ); cleithral process broad, with shallow notch dorsally for about one quarter its maximum width ( Fig. 13a ); fins grey in life (Brahmaputra, Ganges, Godavari and Mahanadi river drainages). .................. ................................................................................. H. menoda

– Snout almost truncate when viewed from above ( Fig. 12 ); cleithral process narrow, with moderately deep notch dorsally for about one third its maximum width ( Fig. 13b ); fins reddish in life (Irawaddy and Sittang river drainages).......................... .............................................................................. H. peguensis

Remarks. — The members of the H. menoda species group are morphologically identical to those of the H. nemurus species groups, save for the presence of dark spots or lines on the sides of the body in the former. It is thus likely that both these groups alone are not monophyletic in the absence of the other. Although it is equally logical to combine the species in both H. menoda and H. nemurus species groups into one group, we maintain the distinctiveness of these two groups in order to simplify comparisons with congeners.

Figures

Fig. 12. Dorsal views of heads of: a, H. menoda, UMMZ 208726, 202.6 mm SL; b, H. peguensis, CAS 133789, 212.7 mm SL. Scale bar = 10 mm.

Fig. 13. Cleithral processes of: a, H. menoda, UMMZ 208726, 202.6 mm SL; b, H. peguensis, CAS 89005, 261.9 mm SL. Scale bar = 5 mm.