Abstract
As a result of the past few years' investigation, the fishes of Chinese Cyprininae, as known at present, amount to 5 genera and 23 species, of which a new species is herewith described as follows.Cyprinus acutidorsalis Wang, sp. nov. (Fig. 1)Holotype, 65-1821, body length 324 mm. to base of caudal, collected from Lecheng, Qionghai District, Hainan Isl., on March 6-9, 1966, and kept in Xiamen Fisheries College, Fujian Province. 11 paratypes mainly collected from various localities of Hainan Isl. during Nov., 1965 to Apr., 1966, of which only a single one from Qinzhou, Guangxi Zhungzu Autonomus Region on Dec., 1963, and respectively deposited in East China Sea Fisheries Research Institute and Xiamen Fisheries College.Diagnosis: Body rhomboid. Dorsal fin having the anterior part triangularly projected and the hind margin deeply notched, origin of dorsal opposite to or slightly behind the end of ventral base, and caudal fin not tinged with orange.Description: Depth in length to base of caudal 2.3-2.5, head 3.2-3.6. Snout 3.0-3.6 in head, eye 3.8-3.9, interorbital 2.2-2.9. Depth of caudal peduncle 0.9-1.0 in its length.D. 4, 16-18; A. 3, 5. L. 1. 32-33. Gill-rakers 17-20.Remarks: The present species closely resembles Cyprinus multitaeniata Pellegrin et Chevey in appearance but differs from the latter in having the characteristics of dorsal fin as mentioned above, the last simple ray of anal rather weak, slightly shorter than that of dorsal, barbels short, the rostral much shorter than the maxillary, and the anterior chamber of air-bladder larger than the posterior, etc.It is noticed that the faunal composition of the fishes of Chinese Cyprininae is especially enriched in comparison with other countries, and is characterized by the fact that there are as many as 16 endemic species. The catalogue of which may be given below.A catalogue of endemic species of the fishes of Chinese Cyprininae Procypris merus Lin Procypris rabaudi (Tchang)Cyprinus crassilabris Chen et Hwang Cyprinus chilia Wu et al. Cyprintis acutidorsalis Wang Cyprinus longipcctoralis Chen et HwangCyprinus longzliouensis Yang et al. Cyprinus pellegrini TchangCyprinus micristius Regan Cyprinus barbatus Chen et HwangCyprinus fuxianensis Yang et al. Cyprinus yunnanensis TchangCyprinus yilongensis Yang et al. Cyprinus daliensis Chen et HwangCyprinus megaloplithalmus Wu et al. Cyprinus ilishaestomus Chen et HwangIt should be especially pointed out that the ichthyofauna of Cyprininae of the Yunnan Plateau is the most abundant as regards genera and species in China, there are as numerous as 4 genera and 15 species, of which 12 are peculiar to the waters of that plateau. In the lakes of Yunnan Province, the speciational evolution among the fishes of Genus Cyprinus is quite obvious, and particularly in Lake Erhai, Western Yunnan, there are as many as 6 species of Cyprinus, among which besides Cyprinus chilia Wu et al., all of the others are peculiar to that lake. It is noteworthy that the sympatric species are so abundant that they are scarcely to be found elsewhere in the freshwater fishfauna of China, and it may be assumed that there and thereabouts Lake Erhai probably is the centre of dispersal of the ichthyofauna of Cyprininae. It is so enriched and highly diversified that there must have been favourable ecological conditions for it to flourish and speciate, and it may be closely related to the changes of the topographical features of that plateau resulting from the orogeny of Indochinese and Himalayan movement, etc.On the problems of the origin and evolution of the fishes of Chinese Cyprininae are herein discussed also.
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