Pristolepis marginata, Jerdon, 1849

Prakash, Anjana Preetha, Raghavan, Rajeev, Dahanukar, Neelesh, Anoop, V. K., Thampy, Dencin Rons, Britz, Ralf & Ali, Anvar, 2025, Pristolepis pentacantha Plamoottil 2015, and Catopra tetracanthus Günther 1862: two junior synonyms of Pristolepis marginata Jerdon 1849, Zootaxa 5642 (3), pp. 245-259 : 254

Distribution of Pristolepis marginata

Jerdon (1849) listed the east-flowing Mananthavady, the west-flowing Kuttyadi and the west-flowing Kannoth Rivers as the type localities of Pristolepis marginata . Repeated sampling in Kuttyadi and Kannoth, however, resulted in the collection of Pristolepis specimens that possess only three anal-fin spines. These specimens were also genetically distinct from P. marginata specimens from Mananthavady. The specimens from Kuttyadi and Kannoth, morphologically correspond to P. malabarica Günther, 1864 . We therefore conclude that P. marginata is restricted to tributaries of the east-flowing Cauvery River including the Kabini, Harangi and Hemavathy Rivers ( Fig. 1 ).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Distribution of four and five anal-fin spined Pristolepis in the Cauvery basin, Southern Western Ghats, India.