CEPF Western Ghats Special Series: Re-description of <i>Hypselobarbus lithopidos</i> (Teleostei: Cyprinidae), based on its rediscovery from the Western Ghats, India, with notes on <i>H. thomassi</i>

Abstract

In recent times, though the genus Hypselobarbus has been studied substantially, the identities of individual species remain ambiguous. Hypselobarbus lithopidos has been assessed as Data Deficient in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species with a speculation that it could possibly be extinct as there has not been any validated record of this species since 1941 from its known range. In this work we report a population of this species from its type locality and re-describe this little known species to clear any taxonomic ambiguity that surrounds the identity of this species. We also attempt to clear the taxonomic ambiguity that surrounds the identity of the Critically Endangered H. thomassi with fresh collections from the type locality are discussed.