Cryptic diversity among Indian Pangasiidae, new species
Posted: 03 May 2017, 18:46
Arvind K. Dwivedi, Braj Kishor Gupta, Rajeev K. Singh, Vindhya Mohindra, Suresh Chandra, Suresh Easawarn, Joykrushna Jena, & Kuldeep K. Lal. 2017. Cryptic diversity in the Indian clade of the catfish family Pangasiidae resolved by the description of a new species. Hydrobiologia, First Online: 24 April 2017, 1-20. DOI 10.1007/s10750-017-3198-z
sp. nov
sp. nov
Dwivedi et al., 2017 wrote:ABSTRACT
Among 22 species of the genus , distributed in Southeast and South Asia, only one species, , is known to exist in South Asia. Phylogenetic analysis based upon COI and Cytb sequences suggested that the P. pangasius species clade consists of two subclades. Based upon the genetic and the following morphological evidence, we conclude that these DNA sequence based sister subclades represent two distinct species, P. pangasius and an undescribed species from river Krishna, named as P. silasi. Morphologically, P. silasi is differentiated from its congener P. pangasius by a combination of characters, such as vomero-palatal teeth confluent as an uninterrupted curved band (vs two lunate vomero-palatal teeth patches on each side with a wide gap in the center) and vertebral count of 48 (vs 44). For several morphological characters, P. silasi is also distinct from P. myanmar, which is reported from Myanmar and has overlapping distribution with P. pangasius. Finally, the vomero-palatine dentition in P. silasi is distinct from the dentition structures reported for all the other Pangasius species. The biogeographical significance of finding this new species, P. silasi, in a river of the Indian peninsula is also discussed in this report.
- Keywords: Pangasius, River Krishna, DNA sequences, Molecular phylogeny, Morphology, Biogeography