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Tor mahanadicus was originally described as Tor mosal mahanadicus with inadequate information on its morphological traits and no designated type specimen. Currently, T . mahanadicus is synonymized with Tor putitora , solely based on partial molecular data despite significant morphological differences. In this study, we performed an integrated morphological and molecular analysis to redescribe T . mahanadicus from the Mahanadi River. Tor mahanadicus is distinguished from all known Indian Tor species by the presence of 2 complete rows of scales between pelvic fin origin and lateral line, small eye (15.3–16.9% in head length), and a wide mouth gap (21.7–23.8% in head length). Moreover, it undoubtedly distinguished from the closely related species Tor putitora by having a wider body depth (26.8–28.2% in standard length vs. 14.5–19.9%), short snout length (23.3–26.4% in head length vs. 28.0–29.3%) and wide inter orbit space (30.5–37.3% in head length vs. 27.6–28.5%). Additionally, the molecular phylogenetic tree generated from a combination of three genes demonstrates a monophyletic clade separate from the Tor putitora clade. Based on the distinct morphological traits and mitochondrial gene sequences, we established Tor mahanadicus as separate species under the genus Tor .

Mahseers, the members of the fish genus Tor, are economically important as sport and food fishes, but their population is declining in South and Southeast Asia. Taxonomic discrepancies exist in discussions surrounding a few species of mahseer in India. In this study, we hypothesize that Tor mosal is wrongly synonymized with T. putitora, and T. barakae with T. tor. To test this, we collected samples from the type localities, and from known distribution areas. We observed a clear morphological distinctiveness among these four species using Principal Component Analysis. The most prominent distinctive parameters among the four species were body depth and head length. Phylogenetic analysis using Bayesian Inference and Maximum Likelihood for both partial mtCOI and mtCytb datasets revealed monophyletic origin, and supported distinctive species level delimitation which was consensus with morphological identity. Moreover, the automatic species delimitation methods (ABGD and PTP) also quantify the four species. The mean K2P distance was 1.57% between T. putitora and T. tor, 2.60% between T. mosal and T. putitora, 3.27% between T. mosal and T. tor, and 2.63% between T. barakae and T. tor. Based on this study, we validate T. mosal and T. barakae, and provide taxonomic keys to the species.

Twenty six polymorphic single-locus microsatellite loci were developed in golden mahseer, Tor putitora . The number of observed alleles per locus ranged from 5 to 16. The observed and expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.2721 to 0.9830 and from 0.4631 to 0.9216, respectively. No significant linkage disequilibrium was detected among the loci. Eight loci showed significant deviation from Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium, but none of them had evidence for null alleles. Twenty-four primer pairs cross-amplified each in Tor khudree and Naziritor chelynoides and 25 each in T. tor and T. mosal mahanadicus . These microsatellite loci should be useful for genetic diversity studies and conservation of golden mahseer and its closely related species.