Two new species of the loach genus Homatula Nichols, 1925 (Pisces, Nemacheilidae) from the upper Chang-Jiang Basin in China Author Cao, Liang 0000-0003-3208-1370 Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, Hubei Province, China Author Liu, Yi Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, Hubei Province, China & University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China Author Zeng, Zhixuan 0000-0001-9740-1342 The Department of Endocrinology, Hubei Clinical Medical Research Center for Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases, Branch of National Clinical Research Center for Metabolic Diseases, Tongji Hospital, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, Hubei Province, China Author Yi, Wenjing Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, Hubei Province, China Author Zhang, E 0000-0002-6971-7160 Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, Hubei Province, China text Zoosystematics and Evolution 2025 2025-03-26 101 2 697 710 journal article 308812 10.3897/zse.101.146027 17a8eb26-f9d7-4b55-a517-86009c547add B49514A4-5753-4411-8156-4C43D6788B8F

Table 2. Morphometric measurements for two new species of Homatula.

Characteristic	H. xiangzhi sp. nov.			H. shexiang sp. nov.
	Holotype	Paratypes (n = 7)		Holotype	Paratypes (n = 15)
		Range	Mean ± SD		Range	Mean ± SD
Standard length (mm)	98.0	53.7–133.4	76 ± 24.8	100.2	71.0–132.5	99.7 ± 19.9
% of Standard length
Body depth	11.0	10.6–13.4	11.9 ± 1.0	11.2	11.3–15.1	12.9 ± 1.1
Head length	18.2	18.2–22.6	21.0 ± 1.4	19.0	17.0–21.1	19.2 ± 1.2
Head depth	9.3	8.7–11.6	10.5 ± 1.0	11.2	9.6–12.6	11.0 ± 0.8
Head width	11.0	11.2–13.4	12.2 ± 0.7	12.2	11.2–13.4	12.2 ± 0.6
Snout length	8.4	8.0–10.0	9.1 ± 0.6	8.6	7.8–10.0	8.7 ± 0.6
Eye diameter	3.3	2.9–4.4	3.6 ± 0.5	2.7	2.1–3.1	2.6 ± 0.2
Interorbital width	4.9	3.9–6.1	5.1 ± 0.6	4.8	4.3–6.6	5.3 ± 0.7
Dorsal-fin length	10.7	9.1–13.6	11.4 ± 1.7	9.4	8.9–12.9	10.6 ± 1.4
Pectoral-fin length	10.9	9.2–15.6	13.6 ± 2.2	12.3	11.1–15.2	13.1 ± 1.3
Pelvical-fin length	10.0	8.2–13.0	11.3 ± 1.7	10.5	9.2–12.7	10.7 ± 1.0
Anal-fin length	10.8	9.5–12.7	10.9 ± 1.1	12.9	11.8–14.5	13.0 ± 0.7
Vent to caudal-fin origin	31.4	27.8–35.5	30.4 ± 2.4	32.1	30.0–35.4	32.6 ± 1.8
Prepectoral length	18.5	16.4–24.0	21.1 ± 2.3	17.2	16.2–19.6	17.8 ± 1.0
Predorsal length	43.7	42.3–49.3	46.7 ± 2.1	47.1	42.1–49.9	45.5 ± 1.8
Prepelvic length	45.7	44.7–52.4	48.6 ± 2.2	46.5	42.4–50.2	46.2 ± 2.4
Preanal length	70.9	70.5–75.2	73.0 ± 1.4	71.0	67.2–73.6	70.7 ± 1.7
Caudal-peduncle length	20.0	17.6–22.2	19.3 ± 1.5	21.0	17.9–22.9	20.5 ± 1.5
Caudal-peduncle depth	9.4	8.0–10.4	9.3 ± 1.0	9.7	9.0–11.0	10.0 ± 0.6
Caudal-fin length	12.3	11.8–15.9	14.6 ± 1.3	12.5	12.0–15.5	13.5 ± 1.2
% of Head length
Head depth	51.0	47.1–53.3	49.8 ± 2.8	59.2	54.0–60.8	57.5 ± 2.2
Head width	60.4	53.5–61.4	58.2 ± 2.5	64.0	60.6–68.0	63.8 ± 2.0
Snout length	46.3	40.5–45.5	43.5 ± 2.0	45.3	41.8–50.2	45.7 ± 2.5
Eye diameter	18.1	14.4–19.4	16.9 ± 1.9	14.1	11.8–15.1	13.7 ± 0.9
Interorbital width	26.8	21.4–27.8	24.4 ± 2.2	25.4	24.0–32.0	27.7 ± 2.2
% of Interorbital width
Eye diameter	67.8	58.2–78.0	68.4 ± 7.5	55.5	41.5–56.7	49.8 ± 4.2
% of caudal-peduncle length
Caudal-peduncle depth	47.0	42.0–53.8	47.3 ± 4.5	46.2	40.4–55.2	49.1 ± 4.9
P	i, 10	i, 9–11		i, 10	i, 9–11
D	iii, 9	iii, 9		iii, 9	iii, 9
V	i, 7	i, 7–8		i, 7	i, 7–8
A	iii, 5	iii, 5		iii, 5	iii, 5
C	9 + 8	9 + 8		9 + 8	9 + 8
Vertebrae	4 + 43	4 + 42–43 (n = 4)		4 + 42	4 + 42–43 (n = 4)