Abstract
Schistura stala, new species, is described from the Mekong drainage in Dali, Yunnan Province, China. The new species is readily distinguished from congeners in the upper Mekong and adjacent drainages by having the caudal-fin bar reduced, stretching over the median ⅓ of the fin base. The species can be further diagnosed by a deep body; a short caudal fin, head and pelvic fin; 38 vertebrae modally; 9–12 faint irregular flank bars, that are often anastomotic or dissolved; and few scales scattered on the anterior part of the body.
References
Chen, X.Y., Kong, D.P. & Yang, J.X. (2005) Schistura cryptofasciata, a new loach (Cypriniformes: Balitoridae) from Salween drainage in Yunnan, southwestern China. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, 13 (Supplement), 27–32.
Endruweit, M., Yang, J.X. & Liu, S.W. (2016) A new river loach from the main channel of the upper Mekong in Yunnan (Cypriniformes: Nemacheilidae). Zootaxa, 4168 (3), 594–600.
https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4168.3.13Hu, Y.T. & Zhang, E. (2010) Homatula pycnolepis, a new species of nemacheiline loach from the upper Mekong drainage, South China (Teleostei: Balitoridae). Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters, 21, 51–62.
Kottelat, M. (1990) Indochinese nemacheilines. A revision of nemacheiline loaches (Pisces: Cypriniformes) of Thailand, Burma, Laos, Cambodia and southern Viet Nam. Pfeil, München, 262 pp.
Kottelat, M. (2012) Conspectus cobitidum: an inventory of the loaches of the world (Teleostei: Cypriniformes: Cobitoidei). The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, 26 (Supplement), 1–199.
McClelland, J. (1838) Observations on six new species of Cyprinidae, with an outline of a new classification of the family. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 7, 941–948.
Mekong River Commission (2005) Overview of the Hydrology of the Mekong Basin. Mekong River Commission, Vientiane, 73 pp.
Nichols, J.T. (1925) Nemacheilus and related loaches in China. American Museum Novitates, 171, 1–7.
Nichols, J.T. & Pope, C.H. (1927) The fishes of Hainan. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 54, 321–394.
Rendahl, H. (1933) Studien über innerasiatische Fische. Arkiv för Zoologi, 25A, 1–51. [in German]
Saruwatari, T., Lopez, J.A. & Pietsch, T.W. (1997) Cyanine blue: a versatile and harmless stain for specimen observations. Copeia, 1997, 840–841.
https://doi.org/10.2307/1447302Yang, J.X. (1990) Nemacheilinae (Cypriniformes: Cobitidae). In: Chu, X. & Chen, Y. (Eds.), The fishes of Yunnan, China. Part 2. Science Press, Beijing, pp. 12–63. [in Chinese]
Zhu, S.Q. (1989) The loaches of the subfamily Nemacheilinae in China. Jiangsu Science and Technology Publishing House, Nanjing, 150 pp. [in Chinese]
Zhu, S.Q. & Wang, S.H. (1985) The noemacheiline fishes from Yunnan Province, China (Cypriniformes: Cobitidae). Acta Zootaxonomica Sinica, 10, 208–220. [in Chinese]