ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF THE PSEUDOGOBIINI FISHES IN EASTERN ASIA

The pseudogobiini fishes are a group of rheophlical benthic freshwater fishes. They comprise 8 genera, namely, Pseudogobio, Saurogobio, Abbottina, Biwia, Rostrogobio, Microphysogobio, Platysmacheilus and Huigobio, and form a monophyletic group whose distribution is restricted within Eastern Asia. The taxon cladogram of the pseudogobiini fishes was used for the analysis of biogeography. Two major biogeographic methods-cladistic dispersal method and cladistic vicariance method were applied to elucidate the age, origin and evolution of the pseudogobiini fishes. As a result, they might have originated in the Northern China from the primitive gobiini fishes at the end of Tertiary, and then have dispersed gradually to south with further speciation and differentiation. The lately deriving genera Microphysogoblo, Platysmacheilus and Huigobio might have originated in the Southern China. In the course of the origin and evolution of the pseudogobiini fishes, there might have been two speciation centers: the northern speciation center and the southern speciation center.