Four new Turcinoemacheilus described from Iran and Turkey

Nemacheilid loaches are still poorly known and many new species have been described in the last decades. Turcinoemacheilus have been recorded only a few times and records came from the Euphrates-Tigris drainage and all were identified as T. kosswigi. In 2011, a new species was described from the Himalaya demonstrating a much wider distribution range of the genus. In the Iranian Tigris basin, recent field investigations revealed that two ‘types’ of Turcinoemacheilus occur sometimes even in sympatry. Both ‘types’ can be immediately differentiated by colour patterns. A close examination of these ‘types’ revealed that they represent two new species, one of them is described as T. hafezi by Golzarianpour et al. (2013) and the other as T. saadii by Esmaeili et al. (2014). While working with the materials, it became clear, that two more new species are involved, described now by Esmaeili et al. (2014) as T. bahaii from the Iranian endorheic Zayandeh River and T. minimus from the upper Euphrates in Turkey.

Golzarianpour, K., A. Abdoli, R. Patimar and J. Freyhof 2013. Turcinoemacheilus hafezi, a new loach from the Zagroz Mountains, Iran (Teleostei: Nemacheilidae). Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters, 24: 41-48.

Esmaeili, H. R., Sayyadzadeh, G., Özuluğ, M., Geiger, M. & Freyhof, J. 2014. Three new species of Turcinoemacheilus from Iran and Turkey (Teleostei: Nemacheilidae). Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters, 24: 257-273.