Cobitis megaspila Nalbant, 1993

Iftime, Alexandru & Oţel, Vasile, 2025, An annotated systematical checklist of the Romanian ichthyofauna, Zootaxa 5654 (1), pp. 1-64 : 9

Cobitis megaspila Nalbant, 1993 ( C. [cf.] tanaitica Băcescu et Mayer, 1969 )

A native, widespread fresh- and brackish water species of the lowlands, living in slow-flowing or stagnant water, in and along the Danube, in the Delta and the Razim lagoon system ( Bănărescu 1964 [as C. taenia L., 1758]; Nalbant 1993; Bohlen & Ráb 2001; Bănărescu 2007 [as both C. megaspila and C. tanaitica ]; Oțel 2007 [as both C. megaspila and C. tanaitica ]; Janko et al. 2007; Choleva et al. 2008; Choleva et al. 2014; Cocan & MireȘan 2018 [as both C. megaspila and C. tanaitica ]; Vasil’ev & Vasil’eva 2022; Năstase et al. 2022 [all as C. tanaitica Băcescu et Mayer, 1969 ]; Volkov et al. 2023; Năstase & Năvodaru 2023 [as both C. megaspila and C. tanaitica ]). Also found in the a tributary of the Prut river in the Republic of Moldova ( Volkov et al. 2023); it may also occur in the Prut.

Bohlen & Ráb (2001) and most subsequent workers considered C. megaspila to be a synonym of C. elongatoides , and the second C. taenia -group Romanian species to be C. tanaitica . Volkov et al. 2023 suggest that a) the Danube Delta C. „ tanaitica ” populations are a distinct species from the north-Pontic C. tanaitica (upon grounds of microsatellite DNA-informed analyses; however, the two clustering versions are not fully congruent, which may furnish a caveat for the validity of this split) and b) C. megaspila Nalbant, 1993 is available for this species as its type material most likely included pure specimens thereof (however, as long as the type material of C. megaspila has not been re-assessed with the same molecular tools as used by Volkov et al. 2023, a caveat still remains as for the availability of C. megaspila ). Gynogenetic diploid or triploid hybrids between C. elongatoides and C. megaspila are common across the range of both parental species (Bohlen & Ráb 2001; Janko et al. 2007; Choleva et al. 2008; Choleva et al. 2014; Vasil’ev & Vasil’eva 2022; Volkov et al. 2023). Mezhzherin & Pavlenko 2007 claimed even more diversity for the “lower Danube” Cobitis , including tetraploid hybrids and hybrids having chromosome sets from two alleged undescribed/unidentified species (besides C. elongatoides and C. megaspila [as C. tanaitica ]), but this was not confirmed by subsequent research (see references quoted above).