A new species of Barbus (Pisces, Cyprinidae) from Africa K. E. Banister Department of Zoology, British Museum (Natural History), Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD Barbus amboseli sp. nov. TYPICAL SERIES. Holotype (BMNH 1979.9.4:1), 35-5 mm SL; paratypes 23-45 mm SL BMNH 1979.9.4:2-6. All these specimens were caught in the Amboseli National Park, Kenya by R. Horowitz. ETYMOLOGY. The specific name refers to the National Park, their only known locality, and is to be treated as a noun in apposition. DESCRIPTION. The description is based on the six known specimens listed above. The abbreviations in the table below are explained at the end of the paper. Unless stated otherwise all measurements are expressed as a percentage of the standard length. Table 1 The overall shape of this stocky species can be seen in Fig. 1 . The great majority of the meristic and morphometric characteristics do not differ significantly from those found in many other species of small Barbus. There are, however, two interesting exceptions to this conformity. Firstly, the lateral line scale count is unusually low (see above) and only the largest specimen has lateral line tubules; tubules are completely lacking in the others. Secondly, the anterior barbels appear to develop late. They are present in the largest specimen, incipient in the specimens of 35 and 35-5 mm SL but lacking in the three smallest specimens (Figs 2-4). A pharyngeal bone is shown in Fig. 5, the pharyngeal teeth number 5.3.1 (f.4) or 5.3.2. (f.l). There are 30 (f.2), 31 (f.3) or 32 (f.l) vertebrae excluding those comprising the Weberian mechanism but including PUi+U,. In all the specimens there are Bull. Br. Mus. nat. Hist. (Zool.)38(3) : 145-150 Issued 29 May 1980 145
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