A New Species of Pseudomystus (Teleostei: Bagridae) from Central Vietnam

Pseudomystus sobrinus, a new species of bagrid catfish, is described from small coastal streams draining the eastern slope of the Annam Cordillera in central Vietnam. Pseudomystus sobrinus resembles P. siamensis and P. bomboides; all three species are distinguished from congeners by their color pattern of strongly contrasting brown and yellow/cream vertical bands on the body. Pseudomystus sobrinus differs from P. siamensis in having a slightly bulbous snout, shorter adipose-fin base (14.7–19.9% SL vs. 21.3–27.2) and pectoral-fin spine (15.4–18.3% SL vs. 17.8–23.4), and from P. bomboides in having a shorter maxillary barbel (not reaching beyond opercle vs. reaching beyond base of pectoral-fin spine) and one (vs. two) brown bands on the caudal fin.

Figure 1.

Pseudomystus sobrinus, ZFMK 27167, holotype, 62.3 mm SL, Vietnam, Phu Yen province, stream about 15 km south of Tuy Hoa

Figure 2.

Lateral views of heads of (a) Pseudomystus sobrinus, ZFMK 27169, paratype, 79.0 mm SL and (b) P. siamensis, UMMZ 234703, 75.2 mm SL.Scale bar = 5 mm

Figure 3.

Map showing distribution of Pseudomystus sobrinus.Square indicates type locality

Figure 4.

Biplot of (a) pectoral-fin spine length (PSL) against standard length and (b) length of adipose-fin base (AdiFL) against standard length for Pseudomystus sobrinus and P. siamensis

Figure 5.

Pseudomystus siamensis, UMMZ 240610, 55.6 mm SL, Laos Nam Nga.Right side, reversed

Contributor Notes

(HHN) Fish Division, Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan, 1109 Geddes Avenue, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1079; and (JF) Leibniz-Institut für Gewässerökologie und Binnenfischerei, Müggelseedamm 310, 12587 Berlin, Germany. (HHN) heokheen@umich.edu; and (JF) freyhof@igb-berlin.de Send reprint requests to HHN.

Accepted: 25 May 2005