Enteromius vandewallei, a new species of minnow from the Volta River basin, West Africa (Cypriniformes: Cyprinidae

Abstract

Enteromius vandewallei, new species, is described from the Volta basin in Benin, Burkina-Faso, and Ghana, West Africa. Enteromius vandewallei belongs to the West African group of Enteromius for which the last simple dorsal fin ray is weekly ossified, flexible, and smooth on its hind margin. Enteromius vandewallei is most similar to E. nigeriensis to which it has erroneously been attributed in the past. It is nevertheless distinguishable from the latter by the following unique combination of characters: a narrow, continuous, blackish longitudinal band covering less than 1/2 scale in height and rising up to about 1 scale above the lateral line at the level of the dorsal fin (vs. blackish longitudinal band, whenever present, generally wider, covering at least 1/2 scale, sometimes discontinuous, and rising only up to approximately 1/2 scale above lateral line in E. nigeriensis); a long head, 26.4-28.4 % SL (vs. shorter, 22.6-25.7 in E. nigeriensis); and a narrow interorbital space, 22-27 % HL (vs. wider, 27-36 in E. nigeriensis).