Two new species, Telestes dabar and T. miloradi, are described on the basis of morphological comparisons of isolated geographical populations of fishes identified earlier as T. metohiensis. A lectotype is designated for T. metohiensis, whose range is shown to include waters of Gatačko, Cerničko, and Nevesinjsko poljes in Eastern Herzegovina. Telestes dabar from Dabarsko Polje (Eastern Herzegovina) and T. miloradi from Konavosko Polje (south Croatia) share with T. metohiensis the following combination of characters that distinguish them from the rest of the genus Telestes: pharyngeal teeth in one row, usually 5–4; preoperculomandibular canal not communicating with the infraorbital canal; mouth subterminal, the tip of the mouth cleft on or below the level of the ventral margin of the eye; postcleithrum minute or absent; ventral portion usually 8), and the dark stripe on the ventral portion of the trunk below the main pigmented area of the back narrow and usually not reaching posteriorly to the caudal peduncle (