A molecular approach to the genus Alburnoides using COI sequences data set and the description of a new species, A. damghani, from the Damghan River system (the Dasht-e Kavir Basin, Iran) (Actinopterygii, Cyprinidae).
The molecular status of nine species of the genus Alburnoides from different river drainages in Iran and additionally by seven species from Europe was assessed. mtDNA COI gene sequences from freshly collected specimens and available NCBI data revealed four major phylogenetic lineages. Based on the results, a distinct taxon from the Cheshmeh Ali (Ali Spring), a Damghan River tributary in the endorheic Dasht-e Kavir basin, northern Iran, which is the closest sister to Alburnoides namaki (Namak Lake basin) + Alburnoides coadi (Nam River in the endorheic Dasht-e Kavir basin) is considered as a new species, Alburnoides damghani sp. n. It is distinguished from other Alburnoides species in Iran by a combination of character states including: a weakly-developed, variably-scaled, ventral keel from completely scaleless to completely scaled, a short snout with the tip of the mouth cleft on a level with the lower margin of the pupil or slightly lower, a small eye (eye horizontal diameter slightly to markedly less than interorbital width), commonly 8½ branched dorsal-fin rays, commonly 11-12½ branched anal-fin rays, 40-46(47) total lateral-line scales, 2.5-4.2 or 2.5-4.1 pharyngeal teeth, gill rakers short and widely spaced, 6-8 in total, 39-41 (commonly 40), total vertebrae, (19)20(21) abdominal vertebrae, 19-21 (most commonly 20) caudal vertebrae, abdominal vertebral region most commonly equal to or longer than caudal region, and most common vertebral formulae 20+20 and 21+19.
Department of Fisheries, Faculty of Natural Resources, Sari University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Sari, Iran.
Arash Jouladeh
AJ
Roudbar
Department of Fisheries, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran.
Soheil
S
Eagderi
Ichthyology Research Lab., Department of Biology, College of Sciences, Shiraz University, Shiraz, 71454-Iran.
Hamid Reza
HR
Esmaeili
Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1P 6P4.
Brian W
BW
Coad
Natural History Museum, Vienna, Austria.
Nina
N
Bogutskaya
DNA barcoding; Freshwater fishes; mitochondrial DNA; morphology; phylogenetic relationship