Claea tongziensis sp. nov., a new species of Claea (Teleostei, Cypriniformes, Nemacheilidae) from the upper Yangtze River drainage, China

A new species of the genus Claea , namely Claea tongziensis sp. nov ., is described from the Tongzi River, a tributary of the Chishui River, in Tongzi County, Guizhou Province, China. Claea tongziensis sp. nov . is morphologically distinguished from its congeners by the combination of the following characters: seven branched dorsal-fin rays; three unbranched anal-fin rays; vertebrae 4+40–42; prominent processus dentiformis; prepelvic length 46.9–51.7% SL; pelvic–anal distance 23.8–28.6% SL; anus–anal distance 4.7–7.0% SL; eye diameter 13.5–18.5% HL; interorbital width 22.2–29.6% HL; outer rostral barbel length 18.9–29.3% HL. In molecular analyses, C. tongziensis sp. nov . constitutes a monophyly in a phylogenetic tree based on mitochondrial cytb and cox1 gene sequences and is significantly distant from its congeners in genetic distance (2.82–6.41%) based on the cytb gene. Morphological and molecular evidence support the validity of the new species.