Capoeta kosswigi Karaman, 1969 a junior synonym of capoeta damascina (Valenciennes, 1842) (Teleostei: Cyprinidae).

Abstract

Capoeta kosswigi was described from Lake Van basin, Turkey, being close to C. damascina and C. umbla. It is distinguished from them by a pointed snout and a small horseshoe-shaped mouth, and differing from C. damascina by having smaller scales, and from the C. umbla by processing larger scales. In this study, we tested the suggested synonymy hypothesis of C. kosswigi and C. damascina by comparing the morphometric and meristic data. The results revealed that all morphometric and meristic characters of C. kosswigi overlap with those of C. damascina. In line with previous molecular studies that COI, cytb and 16S rDNA genes of C. kosswigi and C. damascina are identical, therefore, without having any diagnostic characters, we treat C. kosswigi as a junior synonym of C. damascina.