Desmopuntius pentazona (Boulenger, 1894)
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
The fiveband barb (Desmopuntius pentazona) is a species of cyprinid freshwater fish from Southeast Asia. This species is restricted to blackwater streams and peat swamps in northwestern Borneo and possibly Peninsular Malaysia, but it has often been confused (especially in the aquarium trade) with the more widespread, closely related D. hexazona, which is similar except that it lacks the black spot at the rear base of the dorsal fin seen in D. pentazona. The fish superficially resembles the tiger barb (Puntigrus tetrazona), except that there are five black vertical bands on an orange or gold body instead of four bands on the tiger barb. The fish will grow to a maximum length of 8.8 centimetres (3.5 in) TL. The fish lives natively in calm tropical waters in the lowlands in water with a 5–6 pH, a water hardness of 5–12.0 dGH, and a temperature range of 74–84 °F (23–29 °C). Fiveband barbs are egg-scatterers that spawn among a coarse gravel bed in open water.
Wikipedia contributors, Fiveband barb; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T19:30:27.278369+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Desmopuntius pentazona (Boulenger, 1894)
- Name authority
- (Boulenger, 1894)
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Cypriniformes
- Family
- Cyprinidae
- Genus
- Desmopuntius
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: no · Freshwater: yes · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderCypriniformes
- familyCyprinidae Rafinesque, 1815
- subfamilyBarbinae Bleeker, 1859
- genusDesmopuntius Kottelat, 2013
- speciesDesmopuntius pentazona (Boulenger, 1894)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Desmopuntius. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Desmopuntius rhomboocellatus (Koumans, 1940) | CyprinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Desmopuntius foerschi (Kottelat, 1982) | CyprinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Desmopuntius gemellus (Kottelat, 1996) | CyprinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Desmopuntius hexazona (Weber & de Beaufort, 1912) | CyprinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Desmopuntius johorensis (Duncker, 1904) | CyprinidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Barbus pentazona pentazona Boulenger, 1894 Boulenger, 1894 | synonym |
| Barbus pentazona Boulenger, 1894 Boulenger, 1894 | synonym |
| Puntius pentazona (Boulenger, 1894) (Boulenger, 1894) | synonym |
| Systomus pentazona (Boulenger, 1894) (Boulenger, 1894) | synonym |
| Capoeta pentazona (Boulenger, 1894) (Boulenger, 1894) | synonym |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1019394 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:3543S. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.