A new record of Leptobotia pellegrini Fang, 1936 (Teleostei, Cypriniformes, Botiidae) from the Western Nghe An Biosphere Reserve, Vietnam

We report a new record of Leptobotia pellegrini Fang, 1936 from the Western Nghe An Biosphere Reserve, Vietnam, based on 25 specimens collected in the Kien stream (Ca River), Tuong Duong district, Nghe An province. Morphological features of these specimens were confirmed against the description of this species by Fang (1936). Our new data extend the species’ geographic range southward by approximately 650 km from the Gam River (Na Hang, Tuyen Quang province), Vietnam.


Methods
Fieldwork was conducted in September 2019 in Kien stream (Fig. 1). Specimens were euthanized immediately after collection by freezing on ice, and fixed with 10% formalin, later transferred into 95% alcohol for preservation; and deposited at the Animal Laboratory, Hong Duc University (HDU-LKSVN) and Vinh University (AMUV-LKSVN).
Specimens were compared with the description of Leptobotia pellegrini by Fang (1936). We provide a brief description of the diagnostic characters of this species. Identification. Morphological characteristics of our specimens from Kien stream conform to the description of L. pellegrini by Fang (1936): dorsal fin with 2 simple and 8 branched rays; anal fin with 2 simple and 5.5 branched rays; pelvic fin with 1 simple and 7 or 8 branched rays; pectoral fin with 1 simple and 12 or 13 branched rays; caudal fin with 2 simple and 17 branched rays (1+17+1). Eye medium, eye diameter 2.59-3.24% of snout-vent length; suborbital spine simple, reaching posterior margin of the eye (Fig. 2). Vertebral column with 4+35 vertebrae, 4 comprising the swimbladder complex (Fig. 3). Predorsal distance 53.44-57.50% of  Table 1.

Leptobotia pellegrini
Dorsal fin short, longest ray shorter than head length; pelvic fin short, origin of pelvic fins located at base of first and second branched rays of dorsal fin, tip of pelvic fin not reaching anal, reaching or exceeding anus; caudal fin is forked (length of median rays 1.3-1.4 times in length of the lower lobe); the anus positioned in the median between the anal-fin base and pelvic-fin base; Anal fin reaching half of the distance between the end of the anal fin base and caudal fin base when adpressed.
Dorsal fin with two black horizontal stripes, one on the base of fin and the other near tip of dorsal-fin rays. Body orange, with 6-8 black blotches across the body, from occipital to base of caudal fin (Fig. 4).
Regarding geographic distribution of this species, L. pellegrini is known from the type locality in Sichuan   province in China and from Tuyen Quang province, Vietnam (Fang 1936;Kottelat 2001Kottelat , 2011Kottelat , 2012Bohlen and Šlechtová 2016). In Vietnam, a report of L. elongata in the Lo River (a tributary of the Hong River) by Kottelat (2001: fig. 102) and the Gam River, Tuyen Quang province by Nguyen (2005: 206, fig. 103) was re-identified as L. pellegrini by Kottelat (2012Kottelat ( , 2013. Thus, until now, the genus Leptobotia has been known in Vietnam only by the presence of L. pellegrini in the Hong river basin. Our new record of L. pellegrini extend the range of this species by approximately 650 km south from the nearest known occurrence in the Gam River of Na Hang, Tuyen Quang province, Vietnam. This also confirms the wide distribution of L. pellegrini as compared to other species in this genus. tebrates in the high mountain area Southwest of Nghe An" project (code B2020-TDV-07). We would also like to thank S. Bryan, who commented on a previous draft manuscript; Felipe Ottoni for support in the review process; reviewers, whose comments to improved the quality of the manuscript; and Robert Forsyth for English-language editing.