Balitora ludongensis(Image by LanJiahu, KIZ)

During an expedition of the fishery resource in Jingxi County, Guangxi Province in May, 2008, some Balitora fishes were collected by Yang-Junxing’s team members of Kunming Institute of Zoology in Ludong Town of Zuojiang River drainage. After being carefully compared with all its congeners, it was described as a new species of Balitora ludongensis. The specific name is derived from its collection locality Ludong Town, Jingxi County, Guangxi province, China.

Balitora ludongensis can be distinguished from its congeners by the following characters: pectoral fin with vi–vii, 11–12 rays; pelvic fin with ii, 6–7 rays; upper lip without or with 3–5 fold-like papillae in a row on its middle surface and gradually smooth to the corner of mouth; two maxillary barbels at each corner of mouth, the outer one slightly longer than the inner one, 149.0–190.9% of eye diameter; upper lobe of caudal fin longer than the lower one. This work has been published in the journal “Environmental Biology of Fishes”.