[2] The species can be distinguished from the related P. skeltoni, P. burchelli, and P. burgi by two pairs of barbels around the mouth.

It was confirmed that the populations were genetically dissimilar in a 2000 paper published in the Journal of Heredity, which indicated that they had been isolated for 0.5–2.3 million years, setting the date of divergence during the Pleistocene.

[2][4] Two more papers, published in 2009 and 2013, reiterated the differentiation, and the Verlorenvlei population was assigned to a new species, Pseudobarbus verloreni, in 2014.

It is believed to have disappeared due to the river being emptied during the dry season for agriculture.

[2] Threats faced by the species include habitat loss as water is drained for irrigation, as well as predation by the introduced black bass and competition from native and invasive species such as the Banded tilapia, Mozambique tilapia, and common carp.