A New Species of Cycleptus (Cyprniformes:Catostomidae) from North America

Authors: Richard L. Mayden

Year: 2011 (xliii)

Abstract

For a very long time the Blue Sucker, Cycleptus elongatus was always referred to as a single species and descriptions of the species in reports or faunal books basically repeated morphological characters as if they had simply been copied from one to another. The species is a large river fish, extremely fast swimmer, moves up torrential currents and has been known to leap over low-head dams to reach spawning grounds. Beginning in 1982 I began to examine the morphology of Cycleptus from KU museum and soon joined Brooks Burr in the effort as both of us had identified the similarity of morphological reports of the species in published documents. After years of continued study of the genus Cycleptus morphological and biochemical evidence revealed a divergent evolutionary lineage in the Mobile Basin of the Southeastern US, Cycleptus meridionalis. In that study we indicated that the Rio Grand population may also warrant description as a new species but required additional study. Herein, we present evidence for a new species of Cycleptus endemic to the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo that is diagnosed on morphological, biochemical, and molecular data.

Resumen

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