Systematic Revision of Spinibarbus Fishes (Cypriniformes:Cyprinidae)

Spinibarbus fishes occur in the rivers from the south of Qinling Mountains to the north of Yuanjiang River,including Taiwan and Hainan islands.About the generic status and the identification of species,different opinions have been proposed.So far,15 specific nomenclatures have been reported,being placed in really different genera such as Puntius,Barbodes,Spinibarbichthys,Spinibarbus,Mystacoleucus and Mytsya.Most of these nomenclatures have been recognized to be synonyms.In order to determine the taxonomic status and to clarify the nomenclative confusions for the spinibarbid fishes,we carefully examined 104 spinibarbid specimens and some skeletal specimens deposited in Kunming Institute of Zoology.Comparisons indicate that spinibarbid fishes are distinguished from all other genera of the subfamily Barbinae by following characters:the last supraneural disappeared from above the last predorsal vertebra;the 4th neural spine well developed,being almost as tall as neural complex;a well developed precumbent spine presents in front of dorsal fin origin.These characters further confirm the proposal that spinibarbid fishes represent a special lineage within subfamily Barbinae and should be given a generic status.Through the revision,5 specific nomenclatures are recognized to be valid to the genus Spinibarbus,and S.elongatus is treated for the first time as a synonym of S.hollandi.