Sicyopterus garra Hora, 1925, a valid species of sicydiine goby from the Andaman Islands, India

Abstract

Sicyopterus garra Hora, 1925 from the insular streams of South Andaman Islands was synonymized with Sicyopterus microcephalus described from Java, South East Asia and has retained this taxonomic status since then. Recent collections of Sicyopterus from the type locality of S. garra and the examination of syntypes of this species revealed significant morphological and genetic differences from S. microcephalus and the other Sicyopterus species with papillae on upper lip. S. garra is thus a valid species and not a synonym of S. microcephalus. S. garra differs from S. microcephalus in having fewer lateral scales 53–59 vs. 57–68, fewer zigzag series (12–14 vs. 13–16), a longer caudal peduncle length (16–21 vs. 13–17), and by having a high percentage of divergence in COI gene (5.5%–5.8%).

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