More than a dozen species of cyprinid have been moved to a different genus following a taxonomic study of the group.
Zhang and Chen, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, announced in Zootaxa this week that the 13 members of the Sinilabeo genus should be moved to Bangana as most of the morphological used to identify the two genera are identical.
The Sinilabeo genus was erected in 1932 by Rendahl, but Bangana had already been erected for what were effectively the same group of fish when Hamilton studied the group in 1822. As Hamilton's genus was oldest, the Sinilabeo were moved into his genus.
Zhang and Chen have produced a new diagnosis which explains the characters required to be a member of the Bangana genus and believe that it is the valid genus for the following Chinese species: B. decora, B. dero, B. devdevi, B. discognathoides, B. lemassoni,
B. lippa, B. rendahli, B. tonkinensis, B. tungting, B. wui, B. xanthogenys, B. yunnanensis, and B. zhui.
They also looked at reports of other Sinilabeo and claim that reports of Sinilabeo dero from the upper Irrawaddy River in Yunnan were actually misidentified Bangana devdevi.
They have also placed Sinilabeo cirrhinoides and S. laticeps into synonyms with B. devdevi and B. lippa.
For more details on the study see the paper: Zhang, E and YY Chen (2006) - Revised diagnosis of the genus Bangana Hamilton, 1822
(Pisces: Cyprinidae), with taxonomic and nomenclatural notes on the Chinese species. Zootaxa 1281: 41-54 (2006).