Sarmarutilus Bianco & Ketmaier, 2014, n. gen.

Sarmarutilus n. gen.

Type species: Leuciscus rubilio Bonaparte, 1837: Fauna It: fasc. XIX, Tav III (Type locality; voulcanic lakes of Nemi and Bracciano, central Italy).

Diagnosis. The species, previously classified as Rutilus rubilio, cannot be placed in the genus Rutilus, because of the pharyngeal teeth formulae, 5- 5 in R. rubilio and 6-6 or 6- 5 in Rutilus, of the small size and the riverine preference as opposed to still waters and large size in Rutilus. Similarly, it cannot be placed in the genus Leucos for the presence of prominent tubercles at the center of each scale of the body and on the head in reproductive males (Fig. 4), a character unknown in the genus Leucos, and for the preferentially riverine habits as opposed to still waters in the five species of Leucos. In addition, it shows a marked lateral stripe, quite different from that of L. aula, masked by heavy pigmentation on flanks formed by well marked crescent triangular spot on scales (Fig. 2 F), of a shape not found in any of all other species of Leucos and Rutilus in the examined area. Finally, it is well separated from the Leucos species on karyology grounds (Bianco et al., 2004) and from Rutilus and Leucos at the mtDNA level (Ketmaier at al., 2008).

Etymology. The generic name derives from the Sarmatic Sea, or Lago Mare, an ancient central European inner freshwater sea where this monotypic genus probably has its evolutionary roots.

Origins. Sequence variation of the entire mitochondrial cytochrome b gene shows a strict relationship among five species, which diverged from a Leuciscinae ancestor about 4–5 million years ago, during the Lago Mare phase of the Mediterranean Sea (Bianco, 1990). Similar biogeographic and temporal patterns have been observed in the genus Telestes, which occupies the same geographic area (Ketmaier et al., 2004). According to karyology (Bianco et al., 2004) Sarmarutilus rubilio displays few, if any, elements with centromeric heterochromatin and many with solid telomeric bands; this evidence differentiates S. rubilio from two representative species of the genus Leucos (L. aula and L. panosi). The three examined species should be considered as of distinct origins and, according to molecular data, probably separated since the Lago Mare Phase of the Mediterranean Sea in the Miocene Messinian (5 MYA).