Studies on The Morphology of Lips and Associated Structures Among The Labeonine Fishes With A Prebuccal Cavity (Cyprinidae) in China

Lips and associated structures are of great taxonomic significance in the subfamily Labeoninae on the generic rank.The present paper deals with the comparative studies on the morphology of lips and associated structures among the labeonine fishes with a prebuccal cavity in China.The results indicated that the differences in morphology of the rostral cap and lower lip and the differences in the connection between the rostral cap and the lower lip,or between the rostral cap and the upper jaw,or between the lower lip and the lower jaw,or between the upper jaw and the lower lip,represented the major variations of lips and associated structures and could serve as the diagnostic characters.Four typical mouth patterns were identified among these fishes.On the basis of morphological characters of lips and associated structures,the mouth pattern similarities and the evolutionary relationships among the generic groups of these fishes were analyzed and the taxonomic position of the indigenous Chinese groups,Discocheilus and Sinocrossocheilus,were discussed.