identifier	taxonID	type	CVterm	format	language	title	description	additionalInformationURL	UsageTerms	rights	Owner	contributor	creator	bibliographicCitation
B1298800A37459898B266D6852D80645.text	B1298800A37459898B266D6852D80645.taxon	http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text	http://rs.tdwg.org/ontology/voc/SPMInfoItems#GeneralDescription	text/html	en	Schizopygopsis yalongensis Zhao 2025	<div><p>Schizopygopsis yalongensis Zhao et al., 2025 sp. nov.</p><p>Holotype.</p><p>NWIPB 2307001, total length 172.4 mm; standard length 138.7 mm; Western China: Qinghai Province: Chenduo County: Zhenqin Village: <a href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=97.6&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=33.38" title="Search Plazi for locations around (long 97.6/lat 33.38)">Yalong River</a>; 97.60 E, 33.38 N; Altitude 4,172 m; collected by S. Liu and K. Zhao, July 2023 (Fig. 2) .</p><p>Paratypes. NWIPB 2307002 – NWIPB 2307041 (40), 65.0–196.0 mm SL, collected with the holotype.</p><p>Diagnosis.</p><p>Schizopygopsis yalongensis is distinguished from all other congeners in the genus Schizopygopsis by the combination of the following characteristics: the commencement of the ventral fin under the 4 th – 5 th branched ray of the dorsal fin, the outer gill rakers in the first gill arch 15–21, the inner gill rakers in the first gill arch 25–39, the mouth inferior, strong, unbranched rays of dorsal fins with obvious serratures, the pharyngeal bone hooked, tip of the pharyngeal teeth oblique-truncated with the grinding surfaces shovel-shaped.</p><p>Schizopygopsis yalongensis is distinguished from S. malacanthus by the tip of pharyngeal teeth oblique-truncated with grinding surfaces shovel-shaped (vs. the pharyngeal teeth hooked with the concave grinding surface). Schizopygopsis yalongensis is different from S. thermalis, S. younghusbandi, and S. kialingensis by the commencement of the ventral fin under the 4 th – 5 th branched ray of the dorsal fin (vs. the commencement of the ventral fin under the 2 nd – 3 rd branched ray of the dorsal fin). Schizopygopsis yalongensis is different from S. chengi by having strong unbranched rays of dorsal fins with obvious serratures (vs. weak and soft unbranched rays of dorsal fins with few serratures or no serratures). Schizopygopsis yalongensis is different from S. stoliczkai by having hooked pharyngeal bone (vs. a wide and triangle-shaped pharyngeal bone). Schizopygopsis yalongensis is different from H. microcephalus by having two rows of pharyngeal teeth (vs. one row of pharyngeal teeth) (Table 3).</p><p>Description.</p><p>D. iv, 7–8; P. i, 16–19; V. i, 8–10; A. iii, 5; the outer gill rakers in the first gill arch 15–21; the inner gill rakers in the first gill arch 25–39; pharyngeal teeth in 2 rows, 4.3 / 3.4; vertebrae 4 + 43–45.</p><p>The morphometric measurements of the holotype and paratypes are listed in Table 4. Body elongate, somewhat compressed. Dorsal profile arched and sloping, with the greatest depth at the anterior edge of the dorsal fin. Ventral profile less curved. Head conical. Dorsal profile of head convex and sloping. Ventral profile of the head somewhat flat, much so at the mouth region. Snout obtuse and round, length 27.1 (22.9–34.9) % head length. No barbels. Eye round, uplateral in the head. Eye diameter 21.0 (17.1 –– 27.8) % head length. A row of mucous cavities on the chin and cheeks. Nostrils nearer to eye than to tip of snout. Mouth inferior, oral fissure transverse or nearly straightly hooked, the inner side of the lower jaw sharp with a strong horny layer, the length of the lower jaw approximate to the eye diameter. Angle of mouth ending vertically before the anterior of eye. Lower lip narrow with two lateral lobes, posterior groove of the lower lip discontinued. Body nearly scaleless, except 1–4 rows of minute scales on the pectoral girdle and a sheath consisting of 16–20 scales at base of anal fin behind ventral fin. Lateral line complete, along middle of flank and caudal peduncle, the anterior portion skinfold-like. The last unbranched dorsal fin ray strong with obvious serratures at the posterior edge. The origin of the dorsal fin approximate in the middle point between the tip of the snout and the base of the caudal fin, anterior dorsal angle of fin squarish with roundish corner. Ray of dorsal fin slender. Commencement of the ventral fin under the 4–5 th branched ray of the dorsal fin. The anterior end of anal scaly sheath exceeding the middle point between the ventral and anal fins. Anal opening near origin of anal fin. Posterior border of anal fin somewhat obliquely truncated and the lower posterior angle prolonged and roundish at tip, tip reaching lower base of caudal fin. Caudal fin deeply forked. Gill rakers small, short with pointed tips, moderately dense set. Pharyngeal bone hooked. Pharyngeal teeth in 2 rows, shovel-shaped or oblique-truncated tip.</p><p>SD: standard deviation; Range: including the measurements from holotype.</p><p>Color pattern.</p><p>For the alcohol-preserved specimens; back gray, abdomen yellowish to grayish white, back, head, and dorsal fin with blackish gray spots.</p><p>For life colour (Fig. 3); back and head yellowish brown, abdomen white, lateral line white, back, head, and dorsal fin with blackish grey spots. Dorsal, caudal, anal, pelvic, and pectoral fins pale brown.</p><p>Ecology.</p><p>Schizopygopsis yalongensis is distributed exclusively in the upstream of the Yalong River in Chenduo County, Qinghai Province, China. Schizopygopsis yalongensis inhabits cold streams in the upstream of the Yalong River, with the riverbed consisting of sands, gravel, and pebbles at altitudes greater than 3,000 m (Fig. 4). The coexisting fish include Gymnodiptychus pachycheilus Herzenstein, 1892, Triplophysa stoliczkae (Steindachner, 1866), Triplophysa leptosoma (Herzenstein, 1888), and Triplophysa orientalis (Herzenstein, 1888) .</p><p>Etymology.</p><p>The name of the new species, yalongensis, is derived from the Yalong River (雅砻江), where the species dwells. The Chinese name for the species is suggested as 雅砻裸裂尻鱼 ( Schizopygopsis yalongensis).</p><p>Genetic and phylogenetic analyses.</p><p>In total, sequencing of Cyt b from 75 specimens generated 46 haplotypes, including 18 from S. yalongensis, 24 from H. microcephalus, and 4 from S. malacanthus . Together with 16 sequences of Cyt b from 7 Schizopygopsis fishes from GenBank (Table 2), genetic distances among all Schizopygopsis fishes were calculated, which ranged from 0.132 % (between Schizopygopsis kessleri and Schizopygopsis pylzovi) to 7.149 % (between Schizopygopsis anteroventris and Schizopygopsis chengi). The genetic distance was 2.03–6.16 % between S. yalongensis and other fish in the genus Schizopygopsis, with an average distance of 4.15 %. The genetic distance between S. yalongensis and S. malacanthus was 3.605 %, which was greater than that between S. kessleri and S. pylzovi, S. kessleri and Schizopygopsis kialingensis, S. kessleri and H. microcephalus, S. kialingensis and S. pylzovi, H. microcephalus and S. pylzovi, and S. malacanthus and S. thermalis (Table 4). The genetic differentiation (F st) ranged from 0.0001 (between S. kessleri and S. pylzovi) to 0.9950 (between Schizopygopsis stoliczkai and S. younghusbandi). The F st reached 0.5276 between S. yalongensis and S. malacanthus, which was greater than those of S. kessleri – H. microcephalus and S. kessleri – S. pylzovi (Table 5).</p><p>The phylogenetic trees were constructed on the basis of 46 haplotypes from S. yalongensis, H. microcephalus, and S. malacanthus, 16 haplotypes from 7 Schizopygopsis fishes, and 5 haplotypes from G. pachycheilus, O. stewartii, D. maculatus, G. dybowskii and G. integrigymnatus . BI and ML trees generated identical topologies, revealing that S. yalongensis did not form the closest genetic relationship with S. malacanthus (Fig. 5 a). The monophyletic S. yalongensis was grouped with S. kialingensis and then clustered with S. kessleri, S. pylzovi, and H. microcephalus, with strong support (Fig. 5 a). According to the ML tree, the bPTP method defined 16 species with Bayesian support values ranging from 0. 44 to 1.00, which strongly supported S. yalongensis as an independent species, with a Bayesian support value of 0.84 (Fig. 5 b). ASAP identified the 5 best partitions based on the pairwise genetic distance. According to the lowest score of 3.5, all the samples were split into 16 species, and the samples of S. yalongensis were grouped together, with clear separation from H. microcephalus and S. malacanthus (Fig. 5 b). The species delimitation indicated that S. yalongensis has an independent taxonomic status with coexisting species.</p><p>Morphological analysis.</p><p>The measurements of 17 morphological characteristics were applied for PCA, which revealed that 56.6 % of the total variance was explained by the first two components, with 35.16 % explained by PC 1 and 21.44 % explained by PC 2. The results of the PCA demonstrated that specimens of S. yalongensis and S. malacanthus were mixed and could not be distinguished from each other (Fig. 6 a). Compared with those of S. yalongensis, the inner and outer gill rakers of S. malacanthus were sparsely distributed (Fig. 6 b, c). Additionally, the tips of the pharyngeal teeth were hooked with a concave grinding surface in S. malacanthus (Fig. 6 d). The morphological differences in the feeding apparatus between S. yalongensis and S. malacanthus might be related to the distinct eco-environments of the Yalong and Tongtian Rivers (Fig. 6 e).</p></div>	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/B1298800A37459898B266D6852D80645	Public Domain	No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.		Pensoft via Plazi	Zhao, Kai;Liu, Sijia;Chen, Shengxue;Tian, Fei	Zhao, Kai, Liu, Sijia, Chen, Shengxue, Tian, Fei (2026): A new species of Schizopygopsis Steindachner, 1866 (Cypriniformes, Cyprinidae) from the Yalong River on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, China. Zoosystematics and Evolution 102 (1): 131-144, DOI: 10.3897/zse.102.173298
