Subterranean Fishes of the World

4536

2020

Journal of Fish Biology

968-985

96

Trichomycterus spectrum is described as a new species from the Alejo cave, drained by the Ranchería River basin, in La Guajira department, north-eastern Colombia, and is the first troglomorphic species described from this region. The new species shows an advanced degree of troglomorphisms expressed as eyes absent, long barbels and body depigmented. Trichomycterus spectrum is diagnosed by the putatively autapomorphic presence of a posterior process at the anterolateral corner of the epioccipital, and is also recognized by the derived presence of a circular foramen on the neural spine of the complex vertebra and the following posterior vertebra, and by the apomorphic presence of a well-developed coracoid bridge, distally expanded, and contacting or almost reaching the lateral margin of the cleithrum. The new species also shows the derived origin of the levator internus 4 on the dorsal surface of the posttemporo-supracleithrum that supports Trichomycterinae monophyly. We also propose a monophyletic subgroup provisionally within Trichomycterus, here named the Trichomycterus taenia species group, which includes species distributed in cis- and trans-Andean drainages in northern South America. The taxonomic status of several recently described nominal species from Colombia is discussed, with several synonymy proposals.

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DoNascimiento, C. and Prada-Pedreros, S. (2020)
Flórez, J.S., Cadena, C.D., DoNascimiento, C. and Torres, M. (2020)
Flórez, J.S., Cadena, C.D., Donascimiento, C. and Torres, M. (2021)
Lasso, C. (2021)