Oxynoemacheilus insignis is a species of stone loach[2] It is restricted to the Damascus basin in Syria and to the Jordan-Dead Sea basin in Syria, Israel and Jordan. Its natural habitat is rivers. It is threatened by the drying up of the rivers and streams in which it is found, caused by overuse, damming and less rainfall, as well as by pollution. In Syria it has been extirpated from the Barada and can now only be found in the upper reaches of the Awaj to the west of Damascus.[1] It is a highly variable species and different populations can differ from their neighbouring populations that in the past they have been described as species or subspecies and this has led to a large number of synonyms for Oxynoemacheilus insignis.[3]
| Oxynoemacheilus insignis | |
|---|---|
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| O. insignis in the Hasbaya District, Lebanon | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Cypriniformes |
| Family: | Nemacheilidae |
| Genus: | Oxynoemacheilus |
| Species: | O. insignis
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| Binomial name | |
| Oxynoemacheilus insignis (Heckel, 1843)
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| Synonyms | |
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References
edit- ^ a b Freyhof, J. (2014). "Oxynoemacheilus insignis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2014: e.T61344A19848667. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2014-1.RLTS.T61344A19848667.en. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
- ^ Kottelat, M. (2012): Conspectus cobitidum: an inventory of the loaches of the world (Teleostei: Cypriniformes: Cobitoidei). The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, Suppl. No. 26: 1-199.
- ^ F. Krupp; W. Scheider (1989). "Fishes of the Jordan River drainage Basin and Azraq Oasis". Fauna of Saudi Arabia. 10: 347–416.
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