Abstract. Roesma DI, Tjong DH, Aidil DR. 2020. Phylogenetic analysis of transparent gobies in three Sumatran lakes, inferred from mitochondrial Cytochrome Oxidase I (COI) gene. Biodiversitas 21: 43-48. The transparent gobies fish found in three lakes in Sumatra island is known as Rinuak fish (in Maninjau Lake and Singkarak Lake, West Sumatra, Indonesia) or Badar fish (in Siais Lake, North Sumatra, Indonesia), and are morphologically very similar to the Gobiopterus brachypterus. The phylogenetic study was carried out by analyzing 619 base pairs of the mitochondrial DNA cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) gene in 12 fish individuals from the three lakes. Rinuak and Badar fish in three populations have four haplotypes. The sequence divergences in and between populations are very low (0.0-0.5%). This value indicates that Rinuak and Badar fish are the same species with low genetic diversity. The phylogenetic tree illustrates that this fish belongs to the group of Gobiidae and a sister taxon from G. brachypterus.

Biodiversity study on Puntius has been conducted in West Sumatera using a molecular technique. From the genetic analysis using the sequence of CO1 gene, the study discovered: (1) A new record species of Puntius in Diatas Lake, Batang Lembang, Batang Gumanti, Muara Pingai rivers (located in the eastern part of the Bukit Barisan mountain range) which is Barbodes binotatus banksi or B. banksi. (2). A new record of subspecies in Maninjau Lake and its tributary (located in the western part of the Bukit Barisan mountain range) which is Barbodes banksi maninjau. (3) A new record of subspecies in Batang Kuranji, Batang Katik, Batang Tarok and Lubuk Paraku rivers (located in the western part of the Bukit Barisan mountain range) which is Barbodes banksikuranji. The results of this study add the evidence that the presence of Bukit Barisan mountain range in Sumatra Island contributed to genetic diversity, evolutionary process and speciation mechanism of freshwater fish in Sumatra. It is important to pay attention to the development of district or area in Sumatra.

Roesma DI, Chornelia A, Mursyd A, Kamsi M. 2016. Short Communication: Fish diversity of the Batang Toru River System, South Tapanuli, North Sumatra. Biodiversitas 17: 634-641. A rapid survey on fish diversity was carried in the Batang Toru river system. The survey was carried out in the wet season between 8-14 February 2015 and 15-21 of March 2015 along various tributaries on the east (10) and west (1) side of the main Batang Toru river system. We obtained 427 individuals fish samples consisting of 24 species, from 10 families. These consist of Cyprinidae (11 species), Balitoridae (2), Channidae (2), Gobiidae (2), Nemacheilidae (2), Aplocheilidae (1), Bagridae (1), Cichlidae (1), Mastacembelidae (1), and Sisoridae (1). Four Sumatra fish species were encountered during the surveys, namely Neolissochilus sumatranus, Nemacheilus pfeifferae, Homaloptera gymnogaster and H. heterolepis. N. sumatranus and Puntius binotatus were the most frequently found in all of sampling sites.

A significant number of Southeast Asian mammal species described in the 19th and 20th century were subsequently synonymized and are now considered subspecies. Many are affected by rapid habitat loss which creates an urgent need to re-assess the conservation status based on species boundaries established with molecular data. However, such data are lacking and difficult to obtain for many populations and subspecies. We document via a literature survey and empirical study how shotgun sequencing of faecal DNA is a still underutilized but powerful tool for accelerating such evaluations. We obtain 11 mitochondrial genomes for three subspecies in the langur genus Presbytis through shotgun sequencing of faecal DNA (P. femoralis femoralis, P. f. percura, P. siamensis cf. cana). The genomes support the resurrection of all three subspecies to species based on multiple species delimitation algorithms (PTP, ABGD, Objective Clustering) applied to a dataset covering 40 species and 43 subspecies of Asian colobines. For two of the newly recognized species (P. femoralis, P. percura), the results lead to an immediate change in IUCN status to Critically Endangered due to small population sizes and fragmented habitats. We conclude that faecal DNA should be more widely used for clarifying species boundaries in endangered mammals.

Roesma D. I, Tjong D. H, Karlina W, Aidil D. R. 2019. Taxonomy confirmation of Puntius cf. binotatus from Gunung Tujuh Lake based on Cytochrome Oxidase-I (COI) gene. Biodiversitas 20: 54-60. The population of Puntius cf. binotatus Gunung Tujuh Lake in considered as an isolated population which found in the 20-30 meters depth under the water Gunung Tujuh Lake, Sumatra Island. The species often exhibit different phenotypic characters and may genetic characters may also different due to their response to habitat/ecological conditions. Previous study on P. binotatus from several locations in West Sumatra showed the complexity of the genetic and morphological characters. A molecular study using COI gene of P. cf. binotatus from Gunung Tujuh Lake in Sumatera has been conducted to determine the taxonomic status of the fish. The distinct morphological characters of Puntius cf. binotatus is one black spot in the middle of the caudal and the absent of black spot on the base of the anterior dorsal ray. The analysis on COI gene showed that the range of sequence divergences between P. cf. binotatus Gunung Tujuh Lake and other Sumatra P. cf. binotatus is 3.1-7.6% and 4.1% to Barbodes banksi. This value represents the differences at the subspecies level of Barbodes banksi. Therefore Barbodes banksi gunungtujuh is proposed as an appropriate name to P. cf. binotatus Gunung Tujuh Lake.