Redescription of Betta anabatoides Bleeker, and a new species of Betta from West Kalimantan, Borneo (Teleostei: Osphronemidae)
Author
Tan, Heok Hui
text
Zootaxa
2009
2165
59
68
journal article
10.5281/zenodo.189074
ab03e35b-2874-407a-9071-9d887e0322ba
1175-5326
189074
Betta anabatoides
group
This species group (inclusive of
B. waseri
) was defined by
Witte & Schmidt (1992)
by the following shared characters: absence of iridescent opercle scales; filamentous pelvic ray usually not extended; head with two light spots behind eyes; adult body colour uniform reddish brown or black. Here, after examination of more extensive series of specimens from South and Central Kalimantan, the
B. anabatoides
group is re-defined and characterised as follows: body relatively short and stout (body depth greater than 31.0 % SL); chin-bar absent; opercle scales slight iridescent gold; terminal portion of caudal rays elongated beyond margin of caudal-fin membrane; caudal transverse bars present or absent; head dorsally convex; body stout, superficially reminescent of
Anabas
.
Witte & Schmidt (1992)
recognised
B. anabatoides
as having no markings on the lower jaw and lacking a distinctive colour pattern on the throat; having the central stripe between the lower lip and the eye with “variable modifications” (without further elaboration); having a body size up to
90 mm
SL; and occurring in South, Central and West Kalimantan.
The
B. anabatoides
group is closely related to the
B. waseri
group established by Ng & Kottelat (1994). These two sister groups share the common characters of large adult size, drab coloration, diagnostic eye colour (see Tan, 1998) and the presence of a well marked black lower lip. However, members of the
B. anabatoides
group can be differentiated from those of the
B. waseri
group by having an unmarked (vs. a patterned) throat; absence (vs. presence) of silver distal edges on unpaired fins in life; and a distinct and uninterrupted (vs. indistinct and often interrupted) black postorbital stripe from the posterior edge of the eye to the edge of the opercle.
The
B. anabatoides
group is presently known only from the southern half of Borneo. It consists of two species:
B. anabatoides
Bleeker
, and
B. midas
, herein described.