North Myanmar is one of the most species diverse hotspots in the world. In recent years, Wildlife Biodiversity in Southeast Asia Research Group in Kunming Institute of Zoology (KIZ), led by Xiaoyong CHEN Researcher, has carried out several investigations about aquatic organisms’ diversity here. During a survey in 2015, a new sisorid catfish was collected from the Mali Hka River drainage in Hponkanrazi Wildlife Sanctuary. With morphological comparison, this batch of specimen was proved to be an undiscovered new species and named as Oreoglanis hponkanensis. On 17 January 2017, the research result was published in an international Zoology Open Access Journal, Zookeys, titled as “Oreoglanis hponkanensis, a new sisorid catfish from north Myanmar (Actinopeterygii, Sisoridae)”.

O. hponkanensis is a member of the O. siamensis species group, including 22 species. Before, only 2 species were found in Myanmar. The discovery added another member to the O. siamensis family, and further demonstrated the biological diversity and uniqueness of North Myanmar.

This research was supported by Southeast Asia Biodiversity Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, CAS-SEABRI (Y4ZK111B01).

Picture 1. Oreoglanis hponkanensis

Picture 2. Anus and external genital papilla of Oreoglanis hponkanensis

Picture 3. Comparison of posterior margin of maxillary barbel of Oreoglanis species

Link to Zookeys article:

http://zookeys.pensoft.net/articles.php?id=11049

Contact:

Xiaoyong CHEN

chenxy@mail.kiz.ac.cn