Rediscovery of Knipowitschia goerneri and its molecular relationships with other European northern Mediterranean Knipowitschia species (Teleostei: Gobiidae)
2016
Abstract
The Corfu dwarf goby, Knipowitschia goerneri, known only from the Korission Lagoon catchment on Kerkyra Island (Greece), was described in 1991 on the only existing material, consisting of five specimens. It has not been observed since 1983, and was thought to be possibly extinct.
In 2014, we collected nine specimens of K. goerneri from Korission Lagoon. We found this species to be morphologically and genetically well distinguishable from all other Knipowitschia species.
Analyses of the mitochondrial gene cytochrome b placed it as a sister species of K. milleri, which is another goby from the northern Ionian Sea basin.