Puntius kamalika

Puntius: from the Bengali pungti, a vernacular term for small cyprinids.

kamalika: named in honour of Dr. Kamalika Abeyaratne (1934 - 2004).

Endemic to Sri Lanka where it is widely distributed in the southwestern 'wet zone' of the island, between and including the Kelani and Gin river basins.

Type locality is 'Kalu River at Walandure near Kuruwita, 6°46'N, 80°23'E, Sri Lanka, elevation 120 meters'.

Common throughout its range and has been collected from rivers, streams, and marshland.

An aquarium with base dimensions measuring at least 120 ∗ 30 cm48 ∗ 12 in or equivalent is likely to be required.

Prior to its description P. kamalika was referred to as P. amphibius, a putatively valid species probably restricted to western India.

It differs from all congeners in the following combination of characters: 4½/1/2½ scales in a transverse line between the mid-dorsal scale row and pelvic-fin origin; absence of prominent markings on the body and fins.

In addition, it can be distinguished from similar-looking species from Sri Lanka and India as follows: head length 28.8–31.2% SL (vs. 26.4–28.3% in P. amphibius sensu stricto); eye diameter 7.7–10.2% SL (vs. 6.6–7.3% in P. amphibius sensu stricto); maxillary barbels 3.7–5.3% SL (vs. 3.1% P. amphibius sensu stricto); 16+14 vertebrae (vs. 17+14 in P. amphibius sensu stricto); maximum standard length 72 mm2.8 in (vs. 89 mm3.5 in in P. mahecola, 133 mm5 in in P. dorsalis); absence of prominent markings on body and fins (vs. a black blotch, larger than eye, across about 3½ scales of the caudal peduncle in P. mahecola, black blotches on base of dorsal and caudal fins in P. dorsalis).

The genus Puntius was viewed as a polyphyletic catch-all containing over 100 species of small to mid-sized cyprinid for a number of years until Pethiyagoda et al. (2012) published a partial review covering South Asian members.

The majority of sub-Himalayan Puntius species were reclassified and new genera Dawkinsia, Dravidia, and Pethia erected to accomodate some of them, with the remainder either retained in Puntius or moved to the existing Systomus assemblage, though the definition of the latter was altered meaning some Southeast Asian species formerly placed there are no longer members.

It subsequently became clear that the name Dravidia was preoccupied by a genus of flesh fly, therefore the replacement name Haludaria was made available by Pethiyagoda (2013).

P. titteya was retained in Puntius sensu stricto (but see below), of which members are defined by the following combination of characters: adult size usually less than 120 mm5 in SL; maxillary barbels absent or present; rostral barbels absent; 3-4 unbranched and 8 branched dorsal-fin rays; 3 unbranched and 5 branched anal-fin rays; last unbranched dorsal-fin ray weak or strong and unserrated; lateral line complete with 22-28 pored body scales; free uroneural present; gill rakers simple and acuminate (not branched or laminate); no antrorse predorsal spinous ray; post-epiphysial fontanelle usually present; 4 supraneurals; infraorbital 3 slender; 5th ceratobranchial narrow; pharyngeal teeth 5 + 3 + 2; 12-14 abdominal and 14-16 caudal vertebrae; colour pattern including a (sometimes faint) blackish spot on the caudal peduncle.

However P. titteya and P. bimaculatus differ from this definition in lacking a postepiphysial fontanelle, possession of only 7 branched dorsal-fin rays, 3½ (vs. 4½-5½) scale rows between dorsal-fin origin and lateral-line row, lateral line incomplete and in P. bimaculatus, occasionally interrupted. Both species also have a male colour pattern including a broad, reddish body stripe.

Although these two could therefore be placed in their own genus to do so would render Puntius paraphyletic, and the authors stated that analysis of a wider range of specimens is therefore required before any definitive conclusion can be drawn at the moment.

No species from Indochina, China, or Indonesia were included in the study meaning some former Puntius are currently classed as incertae sedis, i.e., of uncertain taxonomic placement. Several of these issues were resolved by Kottelat (2013) who raised new genera for a number of Southeast Asian species.