Triplophysa wulongensis , a new species of cave-dwelling loach (Teleostei, Nemacheilidae) from Chongqing, Southwest China

We describe a new species of cave-dwelling loach, , based on specimens collected in a subterranean pool in a cave in Wulong County, Chongqing, Southwest China. The pool is connected to the Wujiang River drainage. differs from its congeners by the following combination of characters: eyes present, caudal fin with 18 branched rays; posterior chamber of the air bladder degenerate; stomach U-shaped; intestine without bends or loops immediately posterior to stomach; body smooth and scaleless, and lateral line complete. The mitochondrial cytochrome sequence differs from those of other published sequences of species of by 14.9-24.9% in K2P distance. Phylogenetic analysis based on cytochrome gene sequences recovered as sister taxon to all other cave-dwelling species of .