Cobitis kellei, Erk'akan, Atalay-Ekmekçi & Nalbant, 1998

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 : 23

Cobitis kellei Erk'akan, Atalay-Ekmekçi & Nalbant, 1998

( Fig. 15 )

Cobitis kellei Erk'akan, Atalay-Ekmekçi & Nalbant, 1998: 10, fig. 1 (type locality: Turkey: Tigris drainage: Göksu stream, Çınar, Diyarbakir).

Material examined. None

Material used in molecular genetic analysis. None

Diagnosis. Cobitis kellei is distinguished from C. avicennae from the Iranian Tigris drainage by having one row of indistinct, minute, roundish, dark-grey dots in Z4 (vs. distinct, large dark-brown blotches in Z4, usually horizontally elongated on the anterior body, roundish or vertically elongated on caudal peduncle) and from C. elazigensis from the Euphrates drainage by having one lamina circularis in the male (vs. two).

Distribution. Cobitis kellei has only been found once in the stream Göksu in the upper Tigris drainage.

Remarks. Cobitis kellei was found only once, in 1974, but has not been found since, despite intensive research in the area (E. Ünlü pers. comm. 2014, C. Kaya pers. comm. 2018, own field data). The stream Göksu has been dammed in its lower part, but its middle and upper part are in a good ecological status with clear water and many fish. It remains unclear why C. kellei has not been found again in the stream Göksu or elsewhere.

Figures

FIGURE 15. Cobitis kellei, ISBB 4682, holotype, 46 mm SL, male, Göksu stream; Turkey: Tigris River drainage. Drawing by T.N. Nalbant.