(Percidae: Etheostoma), with Descriptions of Five New Species

22 Bulletin 30 NOVEMBER 1, 2012dividual tubercles on medial-distal portions of rays 3–5.Anal fin spines and anterior rays usually with tubercularridges, grading into broken ridges and individual roundedtubercles on posterior rays; smaller individuals tend todevelop short ridges and rounded tubercles on most rays.Ventral body scale tubercles typically not as well developed,occurring on up to 4 midventral scale rows on posteriorhalf of belly. Tuberculate males have been found incollections from 7 March to 20 May (Duck River, Marshalland Bedford counties, Tennessee).Distribution.—This species is endemic to the Duck andBuffalo Rivers of the Tennessee River drainage, Tennessee(Fig. 5). In the Duck River it occurs below NormandyDam in the Nashville Basin and western Highland Rimdownstream past the confluence of Buffalo River to thebackwaters of Kentucky Lake. It occurs in the BuffaloRiver, located wholly on the western Highland Rim, fromupper reaches downstream to its mouth. Etheostoma obamais distributed parapatrically with E. jessiae, which occurs inTennessee River tributaries upstream, and in at least onetributary downstream (Whiteoak Creek), of Duck River.Etymology.—The common name spangled darter refersto the bright orange spots adorning the body and finsof breeding males. The species epithet is a noun in appositionthat honors President Barack Obama (Fig. 11),the 44 th President of the United States of America, andhis environmental leadership and commitment duringchallenging economic times in the areas of clean energy,energy efficiency, environmental protection and humanitarianefforts globally, and especially for the people of theUnited States.Comments.—Only five specimens from the Duck Riversystem were available to Howell (1968), and presumablybecause they lacked a frenum he treated them as nominalE. stigmaeum. Etnier and Starnes (1994) examined 46 additionalspecimens from the system and reported modalcounts of dorsal fin spines, dorsal fin soft rays, anal finrays, and pectoral fin rays that are closer to those of E.jessiae. They suggested possible intergradation betweennominal E. stigmaeum, invading from the CumberlandRiver (recognized herein as a new species), and E. jessiae.Examination of 185 specimens, observations of breedingcolors in the upper and lower reaches of the system, andsurvey of allozyme variation (Layman, 1994) indicate thatthe population from the Duck River system is distinguishableand diagnosable as a species. The phylogenetic hypothesispresented below suggests that meristic similaritiesbetween E. obama and E. jessiae may best be explainedby more recent common ancestry of E. obama with E. jessiaethan with nominal E. stigmaeum.