Cobitis pirii, 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 : 61-65

Cobitis pirii , new species

( Fig. 48 –50)

Holotype. ZFMK ICH-99635 , 67 mm SL; Turkey: Isparta prov.: stream Aksu at Bağıllı , 37.763 31.033.

Paratypes. FSJF 2469 , 22 , 49–74 mm SL; same data as holotype .— FSJF 2474 , 8 , 49–97 mm SL; Turkey: Isparta prov.: stream Çayköy at Koysazı bridge about 5 km southeast of Eğirdir , 37.841 30.891 .— FSJF 3094 , 2 , 58–59 mm SL; Turkey: Isparta prov.: stream Söğütlü at Eğirler about 12 km northeast of Gelendost , 38.197 31.107 .

Material used in molecular genetic analysis. FSJF DNA-1098; Turkey: Isparta prov.: stream Aksu at Bağıllı, 37.763 31.033. (GenBank accession number: MH795384 ).—FSJF DNA-1103; Turkey: Isparta prov.: stream Çayköy at Koysazı bridge, southeast of Eğirdir, 38.197 31.107. (GenBank accession numbers: KJ553000 , KJ553258 ).

Diagnosis. Cobiti s pirii is distinguished from all other Cobitis species in the Asian Mediterranean Sea basin and the endorheic basins in Central Anatolia by having a unique colour pattern. Cobitis pirii usually has two rows of small, densely set, roundish or irregularly-shaped blotches along the lower flank. The upper row is situated along Z4 and these blotches in Z4 are usually well separated and rarely fused to adjacent neighbours. The lower row of blotches is situated about ½ or one eye diameter below the upper row and the blotches in both rows are of similar size and shape. In C. aliyeae , C. anabelae , C. dorademiri , C. erkakanae , C. evreni , C. levantina , C. simplicispina and C. sipahilerae as well as in many individuals of C. battalgilae and C. phrygica , there is one row of large blotches in Z4, well separate or fused into short or longer stripes and there is no pigmentation below Z4 or the pigmentation below Z4 is restricted to single pigment cells or few blotches, usually on the lower caudal peduncle and above the pectoral fin.

In some, especially small, individuals of C. pirii there is no row of blotches below Z4. These individuals are distinguished by having a series of very small, irregularly set and shaped, blotches or spots in Z4 (vs. a series large blotches or a stripe in C. aliyeae , C. anabelae , C. dorademiri , C. erkakanae , C. evreni , C. levantina , C. simplicispina and C. sipahilerae as well as in many individuals of C. battalgilae and C. phrygica ).

In some individuals of C. battalgilae , C. dorademiri , C. levantina and C. phrygica , the blotches in Z4 are dissociated into a band or a field of small blotches and spots but not organised in two rows (vs. two rows in C. pirii ). In our materials of C. battalgilae examined, there are few individuals having a row of blotches below Z4 and these individuals cannot be distinguished from C. pirii by colour pattern. In our materials, these are all males. Male C. pirii are distinguished from male C. battalgilae by having a shorter predorsal distance (50–52% SL vs. 53–54), a deeper dorsal fin (17–20% SL vs. 21–22) and a shorter pectoral (17–19% SL vs. 19–20) and pelvic fin (12–14% SL vs. 16–18). Cobitis pirii is further distinguished from C. battalgilae by having a simple external part of the suborbital spine (vs. bifurcate), the mental lobes elevated and well separated from the lower lip (vs. mental lobe often indistinct from lower lip, rarely well-separated) and a long mental lobe reaching to or beyond the lower lip (vs. very short, not reaching beyond the lower lip). In C. pirii , the flank pattern is usually organised in the Gambetta zones (vs. not in C. joergbohleni and C. turcica and many individuals of C. phrygica ). In few individuals of C. pirii , the flank pattern is not organised in the Gambetta zones and these are indistinguishable by the colour pattern from C. joergbohleni and C. turcica . Cobitis pirii is further distinguished from C. turcica by having a greater interorbital distance (16–21% HL vs. 12–16) and from C. joergbohleni by having a truncate caudal fin (vs. roundish). All individuals of C. pirii and C. joergbohleni examined have a simple external part of the suborbital spine (vs. most C. turcica have a bifurcate external part of the suborbital spine, only in few individuals examined the spine is simple).

Cobitis pirii is further distinguished from C. aliyeae , C. anabelae and C. erkakanae by having a simple external part of the suborbital spine (vs. bifurcate), a shorter predorsal distance in the male (50–52% SL vs. 56–58 in C. aliyeae , 82–85 in C. erkakanae ) and prepelvic distance in the male (51–55% SL vs. 57–60 in C. aliyeae , 54– 56 in C. erkakanae ), a longer caudal-peduncle length in the male (14–16% SL vs. 11–14 in C. aliyeae , 11–13 in C. erkakanae ) and a shorter preanal length in the female (76–79% SL vs. 81–85 in C. aliyeae , 82–85 in C. erkakanae ). It is further distinguished from C. dorademiri by having a narrower caudal peduncle (caudal-peduncle depth 0.6– 0.8 times in caudal-peduncle length vs. 0.9–1.0).

Cobitis pirii is further distinguished from C. phrygica by usually having a very small black spot at the uppermost caudal-fin base (vs. absent), elevated mental lobes, well-separated from the lower lip (vs. mental lobe often indistinct from the lower lip, rarely well-separated), a longer caudal-peduncle length in the male (14–16% SL vs. 11–13), a shorter caudal-fin length in the male (16–18% SL vs. 19–21) and a deeper body in the female (15– 19% SL vs. 13–15). Cobitis pirii is distinguished from C. bilseli from the Lake Beyşehir basin by having two laminae circularis in the male (vs. one).

Description. See Figures 48 –50 for general appearance and Table 8 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 slightly convex, head length 1.1–1.3 times in body depth. Snout pointed, its length 0.6–0.8 times in postorbital length. Eye diameter 0.3–0.4 times in head depth at eye, 0.7–1.0 times in interorbital width. Caudalpeduncle length 1.3–1.8 times longer than deep.

FİGURE 50. Cobitis pirii , from the top: FSJF 2469, male, 55 mm SL; Turkey: stream Aksu; FSJF 2474, male, 49 mm SL; female, 74 mm SL; Turkey: stream Çayköy.

Pelvic axillary lobe present in some individuals, absent in others. Margin of dorsal and anal fins convex. Caudal fin truncate. A short and shallow ventral keel in all and a short and shallow dorsal keel in some individuals on caudal peduncle. External part of the suborbital spine simple, reaching slightly to or beyond centre of eye. Largest recorded specimen 97 mm SL.

Dorsal fin with 3 unbranched and 5½ (7) and 6½ (13) branched rays. Anal fin with 3 unbranched and 5½ (17) and 6½ (3) branched rays. Caudal fin with 8+7 branched rays in two males and two females, 7+ 7 in other males and females. Pectoral fin with 8 (7), 9 (12) and 10 (1) branched rays and pelvic fin with 5 (19) and 6 (1) branched rays. Body completely covered by embedded scales, except on belly and breast. Scales small. Focal zone in subdorsal scales about 1/5 or 1/7 of vertical scale diameter. Lateral line short, with 2–6 pores. Lips ( Fig. 54 ) moderately thick, mental lobes short, often well separated from lower lip, produced in a barbel-like process in few individuals. Rostral barbel reaching base of mandibular barbel. Mandibular barbel reaching to or slightly beyond vertical of nostril. Maxillary barbel reaching vertical of front border or middle of eye.

Sexual dimorphism. Male have a longer pectoral fin than female (17–19% SL vs. 14–16) and two laminae circularis (vs. none).

Colouration. Body yellowish with a dark-brown pigmentation pattern organised in one mid-dorsal and usually five lateral zones, flank pigmentation not organised in Gambetta zones in some individuals. Mid-dorsal pigmentation consisting in a series of 13–20, roundish blotches, often irregularly shaped or fused to each other. Many small spots in Z1, spots smaller than those in Z2. Z1 wider than Z2, not reaching dorsally to interspaces of mid-dorsal blotches. Many small spots of about pupil size in Z2, partly fused in few males, forming short stripes. Pigmentation in Z2 present only on predorsal-and subdorsal part of flank, indistinguishable from Z1 and Z3 on postdorsal flank. Pigmentation in Z3 formed by few small spots, Z3 wider than Z2 and spots smaller than in Z2 and in Z4. Pigmentation in Z4 formed by a series of small blotches, usually well separated and rarely fused to adjacent neighbours. In preserved individuals, a bold grey inner axial stripe connecting blotches in Z4. A second row of blotches usually present about ½ or one eye diameter below Z4. Blotches in lower row of similar size and shape as those in Z4. A single, very indistinct, and small black spot at upper caudal-fin base. Upper part of head, opercle and snout covered by small spots. No dark-brown stripe between eye and snout. Fins hyaline. Caudal fin with 6–7 and dorsal fin with 4–7 dark, sometimes irregular shaped bars. Few dark-brown spots in paired fins. Barbels whitish.

Etymology. Named for Piri Reis (1465–1553) the Ottoman admiral, navigator, geographer and cartographer. Piri Reis is known for his world maps showing America and the maritime book called Kitab-i Bahriye. A noun in genitive, indeclinable.

Distribution. Cobitis pirii is widespread in Lake Eğirdir basin as well as in the Aksu and Köprü River drainages. The Aksu and Köprü Rivers flow into the Mediterranean Sea south of Lake Eğirdir.

Remarks. Molecular data ( Fig. 1 ) place C. pirii in the C. simplicispina species group ( C. battalgilae , C. bilseli , C. dorademiri , C. joergbohleni , C. phrygica , C. pirii , C. simplicispina , C. sipahilerae , and C. turcica ). Based on DNA barcoding C. pirii is separated from all other included Cobitis , and by a minimum K2P distance of 2.5% to C. bilseli . It is also supported by the PTP approach as distinct entity.

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 48. Cobitis pirii, left column from the top: males, ZFMK ICH-99635, holotype, 67 mm SL; paratypes, FSJF 2469, 49 mm SL, 50 mm SL; right column from the top: females, FSJF 2474, 95 mm SL, FSJF 2469 68 mm SL, 60 mm SL; Turkey: streams Aksu and Çayköy.

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.