Luciobarbus kottelati, Turan, Ekmekci, Ilhan & Engin, 2008

Our material of L. kottelati View in CoL and L. lydianus largely overlaps in most character proposed to distinguish both species. This is particularly relevant given that the original description of L. kottelati by Turan et al. (2008) was based on 20 individuals from a single locality. Our analysis, including 19 individuals of L. kottelati from three different sites, indicates a higher degree of variability and overlap of morphological characters. As there is also no considerable difference between L. graecus , L. lydianus , and L. kottelati in their COI barcode sequences, we treat L. kottelati also as a synonym of L. graecus . Naturally, it cannot be excluded that Turan et al. (2008) report characters that ultimately are not diagnostic, and there is still the possibility that they and we may have overlooked other characters in our respective examinations that could potentially distinguish between the different populations. However, it should be noted that discovering any new diagnostic trait, if present, is beyond the scope of the current study.