Metadata

Schistura sijuensis

(Menon 1987) Kottelat 1990

Schistura sijuensis
Redrawn by Rhian Kendall from Hora (1924)
ORDERSUB-ORDERFAMILY
CypriniformesCobitoidei Nemacheilidae

Synonyms

Noemacheilus sijuensis  Menon 1987

Nemachilus sp.  Hora 1924

Nemachilus beavani  Gunther 1868 (by Hora 1935)

Noemacheilus multimexicanus  Day 1878 (by Pillai and Yazdani 1977)

Country

India

Types

Holotype: SRS/ZSI F570 51.5mm SL. Paratypes : SRS/ZSI F571 25.0mm ‑ 41.5mm SL (14 specimens).

Distribution

Type locality: Siju Cave, Garo Hills, Meghalaya, India (25o21'02”N, 90o41'04”E). Recorded also in an epigean habitat: Pathar Syllang Stream, Mawsyiar Village, West Khasi Hills district, Meghalaya, India (25o33’44.2”N, 91o17’42.3”E) (Khynriam and Sen 2014:26).

Habitat

A detailed description with survey is provided by Brooks and Smart (1995). The fauna inhabiting the cave is described by Harries et al. (2020) and Kharkongor et al. (2023).

Systematics

Listed as Noemacheilus Mesonoemacheilus sijuensis on the plate caption in Menon (1987). It is not certain that the epigean specimens collected in Pathar Syllang Stream, some distance from the type locality, are in fact this species.

Conservation Status

TLO [EN B1ab(iii):3.1:2010]

Vishwanath, W. 2020. Schistura sijuensis (amended version of 2010 assessment). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2020: e.T19977A177145523. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-3.RLTS.T19977A177145523.en. Downloaded on 11 January 2021.

Vishwanath, W. 2010. Schistura sijuensis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2010: http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2010-4.RLTS.T19977A9127221.en. Downloaded on 14 July 2017. This species is only found in a single location, the Siju cave of Garo Hills, Meghalaya, which has an area of approximately 400 km². Several threats, such as mining, quarrying and deforestation, are destroying this species' habitat. It is therefore assessed as Endangered. R (IUCN 1990), R (IUCN 1993), VU D2 (IUCN 1996, 2000).

Museum Holdings

Other material at ZSI, including V/F/ERS/ZSI/3186 (5 specimens) (Khynriam and Sen 2014:26).

Internet Resources

Wikipedia link for Siju Cave

Key References

Volume 26 (1924) of the Records of the Indian Museum is devoted to papers on the fauna of Siju Cave. Despite its age this is certainly an important source for the animals sharing the cave with Schistura sijuensis. After this the most important source is Harries et al. (2020).

Kemp, S. Journal Article 1924 Notes on the mammals of the Siju Cave, Garo Hills, Assam
Kemp, S. Journal Article 1924 Crustacea Decapoda of the Siju Cave, Garo Hills, Assam
Kemp, S. and China, W.E. Journal Article 1924 Rhynchota of the Siju Cave, Garo Hills, Assam
Lamb, C.G. Journal Article 1924 Diptera of the Siju Cave, Garo Hills, Assam. III Dolichopodidae
Andrewes, H.E. Journal Article 1924 Coleoptera of the Siju Cave, Garo Hills, Assam. I Carabidae
Meyrick, E. Journal Article 1924 Lepidoptera of the Siju Cave, Garo Hills, Assam. II Tineidae
Annandale, N. and Chopra, B., Journal Article 1924 Molluscs of the Siju Cave, Garo Hills, Assam
Blair, K.G. Journal Article 1924 Coleoptera of the Siju Cave, Garo Hills, Assam. IV Histeridae, Hydrophilidae, Erotylidae, Lathridiidae, Tenebrionidae and Hylophilidae
Patton, W.S. Journal Article 1924 Diptera of the Siju Cave, Garo Hills, Assam. IV Nycteribiidae
Brunetti, E, Journal Article 1924 Diptera of the Siju Cave, Garo Hills, Assam. I Tipulidae, Tabanidae, Anthomyidae, Acalyptrate Muscidae and Phoridae
Kemp, S. and Chopra, B. Journal Article 1924 The Siju Cave, Garo Hills, Assam
Roewer, C.F. Journal Article 1924 Opiliones aus der Siju-hohle in den Garo-Hills im Assam
Cameron, M. Journal Article 1924 Coleoptera of the Siju Cave, Garo Hills, Assam. II New species of Staphylinidae
Hora, S. L. Journal Article 1924 Fishes of the Siju Cave, Garo Hills, Assam
Rohwer, S.A. Journal Article 1924 Hymenoptera of the Siju Cave, Garo Hills, Assam. II Description of a new Braconid
Carpenter, G.H. Journal Article 1924 Collembola of the Siju Cave, Garo Hills, Assam
Silvestri, F. Journal Article 1924 Myriapoda from the Siju Cave, Garo Hills, Assam
Chopard, L. Journal Article 1924 On some cavernicolous Orthoptera and Dermaptera from Assam and Burma
Chopra, B. Journal Article 1924 Isopoda of the Siju Cave, Garo Hills, Assam
Edwards, F.W. Journal Article 1924 Diptera of the Siju Cave, Garo Hills, Assam. II Chironomidae
Stephenson, J. Journal Article 1924 Oligochaeta of the Siju Cave, Garo Hills, Assam.
Fage, L. Journal Article 1924 Araneids from the Siju Cave, Garo Hills, Assam
Wheeler, W.M. Journal Article 1924 Hymenoptera of the Siju Cave, Garo Hills, Assam. I Triglyphothrix striatidens Emery as a cave ant
Fletcher, T.B. Journal Article 1924 Lepidoptera of the Siju Cave, Garo Hills, Assam. I Pyralidae
Fleutiaux, E. Journal Article 1924 Coleoptera of the Siju Cave, Garo Hills, Assam. III Elateridae
Gravely, F.H. Journal Article 1924 Tartarides from the Siju Cave, Garo Hills, Assam. Records of the Indian Museum
Ochs, G. Journal Article 1925 Descriptions of new asiatic Gyrinidae
Hora, S. L. Journal Article 1935 Notes on fishes in the Indian Museum. Part 24. Loaches of the genus Nemacheilus from eastern Himalayas, with the description of a new species from Burma and Siam
Pillai, R. S. and Yazdani, G. M. Journal Article 1977 Ichthyo-fauna of the Garo Hills, Meghalaya (India)
Menon, A. G. K. Book Section 1987 Noemacheilus sijuensis sp. nov
Kottelat, M. Journal Article 1990 New species and populations of cave nemacheilines in south and south-east Asia (Osteichthyes, Balitoridae)
Talwar, P. K. and Jhingran, A. G. Book Section 1992 Nemacheilus sijuensis (Menon)
Brooks, S.J. and Smart, C.M. Book 1995 Caving in the abode of the clouds. The caves and karst of Meghalaya, North East India
Sinha, Y.P. Journal Article 1999 Bats of the Siju Cave, South Garo Hills District, Meghalaya, India: taxonomy and bionomics
Harries, D.B., Ware, F.J., Fischer, C.W., Biswas, J. and Kharpran-Daly, B.D. Journal Article 2008 A review of the biospeleology of Meghalaya, India
Kottelat, M. Journal Article 2012 Conspectus cobitidum: An inventory of the loaches of the world (Teleostei: Cypriniformes: Cobitoidei)
Khynriam, D and Sen, N Journal Article 2014 Taxonomic Study on Nemacheiline Loaches of North East India
Absar, P.F., Mitra, S. and Kharkongor, I.J. Journal Article 2017 Teretamon spelaeum, a new species of freshwater crab (Crustacea: Decapoda: Potamidae) from a limestone cave in Meghalaya, India
Harries, D., Kharkongor, I.J. and Saikia, U. Journal Article 2020 The biota of Siju Cave, Meghalaya, India: a comparison of biological records from 1922 and from 2019
Kharkongor, I.J., Saikia, U., Khynriam, D. and Saikia, B. Journal Article 2023 Current status of faunal diversity of Siju Cave, South Garo Hills, Meghalaya
Kosygin, L., Laskar, B.A. and Khynriam, D. Journal Article 2023 Cavefishes of Meghalaya
Marak, W.K. and Singh, Y.L. Journal Article 2023 Osteology of incomplete lateral lined schisturid loaches of Meghalaya: a comparative account
Sengupta, D., Dutt, S., Kharpran Daly, B.D. and Panda, S. Journal Article 2024 Development of Geopark for protecting karst region of Nongkhlieh Area, Meghalaya
Not Scistura sijuensis. This is a Glyptothorax species 180m inside Siju Cave, photo by Dan Harries February 2019. This genus is common in the caves of Meghalaya