Scientists have described a new species of bagrid catfish from Central Vietnam.
Heok Hee Ng of the Fish Division at the Museum of Zoology at the University of Michigan and Jorg Freyhof of Leibniz-Institut fr Gewsserkologie und Binnenfischerei, Mggelseedamm described the new catfish as Pseudomystus sobrinus in a paper in the latest issue of the ichthyology journal Copeia.
The new catfish was described from some small streams on the coast of Vietnam which drain the eastern slops of the Annam Cordillera in the central region of the country.
According the Ng and Freyhof, the new catfish is similar to both siamensis and bomboides, as all three species have a striking colour bumblebee-like pattern made up of contrasting vertical bands of brown and yellow-cream.
Unlike bomboides, sobrinus has shorter maxillary barbels which reach the operculum at most, rather than past the base of the pectoral fin spine. P. bomboides also has two brown bands on the tail, rather than the single band seen on sobrinus.
P. siamensis has a less bulbous snout and a longer adipose fin base than sobrinus, as well as slightly different pectoral fin spine lengths in relation to the body.
For more details see the paper: Ng, HH and Freyhof, J. (2005) - A New Species of Pseudomystus (Teleostei: Bagridae) from Central Vietnam. Copeia: Vol. 2005, No. 4, pp. 745-750.