Phylogenetic Relationships and Taxonomy
of Luciobarbus barbulus (Heckel, 1847) (Teleostei: Cyprinidae)1
R. Khaefia, A. Teimorib, and H. R. Esmaeilia, c, *
aIchthyology and Molecular Systematics Research Lab., Department of Biology,
College of Sciences, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran
bDepartment of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, 76169-14111 Iran
cDepartment of Earth and Environmental Sciences Palaeontology and Geobiology,
Richard-Wagner str. 10, Munich, 80333 Germany
Correspondence to: *e-mail: hresmaeili@shirazu.ac.ir
1The article is published in the original.
Received 13 April, 2017
Abstract—Luciobarbus barbulus (Heckel, 1847), a cyprinid fish of the Persian Gulf basin is re-described. Its identity is discussed and its phylogenetic relationship among the tribe Barbini is reconstructed. Luciobarbus barbulus can be distinguished from its close species, L. pectoralis by having thicker lower lip, stronger last unbranched dorsal fin ray and with stronger serration, longer barbels and posterior barbel passes the middle of the eye (vs. not reaching the middle of the eye in L. pectoralis), confirming the identity of both, as distinct species. Moreover, phylogenetic analysis based on the mtCOI sequences, placed the sequenced L. barbulus in a distinct clade corresponding to the tribe Barbini which includes Aulopyge, Barbus and Luciobarbus (three genera from Eurasia and North of Africa), sister to L. pectoralis from Orontes River with genetic distance of 1.7% applying the Kimura 2 Parameter (K2P) model.
Keywords: COI sequences, freshwater fish, Middle East, biodiversity, Luciobarbus pectoralis
DOI: 10.1134/S0032945217060078