SOME CLARIFICATIONS ON THE CULTRINAE FISHES OF CHINA

Berg(1909)classified those fishes in the genus Culter with incomplete ventral keel into the genus Erythroculter,and used Culter erythropterus Basilewsky as type species of this new genus.He described the ventral keel of fishes in the genus Culter,including the type species(Culter alburnus Basilewsky)to be complete.Yih and Chu(1959)redescribed Culter alburnus Basilewsky and Culter erythropterus Basilewsky. They pointed out that,in C. alburnus,the ventral keel was acutally incomplete and the fins were clark grey in colour,while in C. erythropterus,the ventral keel was complete and fins were orange in colour.However,They did not redescribe the characteristics of the genus.According to the principles of classification and nomenclature,the characteristic of the genus should be in accordance with those of the type species,and the type species of a genus should not be changed.Therefore,the ventral keel of the genus Culter is incomplete. Erythroculter Berg is the synomym of Culter.Culter should be used as the genus name for those fishes that have been plaee under Erythroculter and those species with a complete ventral keel in the genus Culter should form a separate genus.It is recommended that Cultrichthys Smith(1938)be used as the name of the latter genus(type:Culter brevicauda Gunther=Culter erythropterus Basilewsky).Genus Culter consists of 9 species and subspecies,while genus Cultrichthys consists of 2 species.Erythroculter hysetonotus(Lin)shows characteristics different from those of either of these two genera and should be placed under the genus Anrcherythroculter.Therfore,it is recommended as Ancherythroculter lini Luo,sp.nov,by the author.