Kottelat (1990) referred to the only species of Schistura known to him from the Mae Khlong basin as S.desmotes. Schistura desmotes was originally described from the Ping River basin, Chiang Mai, Thailand. It is distinguished from similar species by the combination of 7–9 dark bars on the side, an axillary pelvic fin-lobe,lateral line extending nearly to the caudal fin, 8½ branched dorsal-fin rays, 9 upper and 8 lower branched caudal-fin rays, an uninterrupted black basicaudal bar, and a suborbital flap in the adult male. A superficially similar population in the Mae Nam Kwai Noi (Mae Khlong basin) was identified as S. desmotes by Kottelat (1990), who noted that the specimens “cannot be differentiated from those of the upper Mae Nam Ping except by a generally lighter background coloration and slightly thinner bars which also are more numerous in the postdorsal area(modally 4, vs 3).” However, the population in the Mae Nam Kwai Noi lacks the suborbital flap present in S.
desmotes and is distinguished by its color pattern as described below.