Chinese scientists have described a new genus of labeonine cyprinid fish from southern China, as well as describing two new species in the new genus.
The paper by E Zhang, Xin Qiang and Jia-hu Lan describing Hongshuia, new genus, and the two new species H. banmo and H. paoli, is published in a recent issue of the journal Zootaxa.
According to the authors, Hongshuia differs from all other Asian labeonine fishes in having ...a lower lip with its median lobe modified into a round, fleshy plate peripherally greatly protruded so as to form a ring-like fold posteromedially continuous with the mental region and centrally sunken so as to form a round, flat, fleshy pad...
HongshuiaIt is distinguished from all other Asian members of the Garrina except for Parasinilabeo longibarbus, Pseudocrossocheilus and Sinocrossocheilus in having well-developed (vs. minute or absent) maxillary barbels. Hongshuia is further distinguished from Parasinilabeo...in having two (vs. three) rows of pharyngeal teeth, a crenulated (vs. non-crenulated) rostral fold disconnected (vs. connected) from the lower lip at the corners of the mouth, and no postlabial groove (vs. present, broadly interrupted or confined only in the side of the lower jaw).
It has well-developed maxillary barbels, as found in P. longibarbus, but further differs from P. longibarbus in having have 7 (vs. 8) branched dorsal-fin rays.
Hongshuia further differs from Sinocrossocheilus in the lower lip morphology...and in its color patterns...In Hongshuia, the median lobe of the lower lip has a ring-like (vs. crescentic in Sinocrossocheilus) fleshy fold that surrounds (vs. caps) the round (vs. roughly triangular), flat (vs. slightly protruded) fleshy pad, and the posteromedian (vs. posterior) edge of the ring-like fleshy fold (vs. nearly triangular fleshy pad) is posteriorly continuous with the mental region. Hongshuia lacks the conspicuous black bar on the upper half of the flank immediately above the fifth lateral line scale present in Sinocrossocheilus.
Hongshuia further differs from Pseudocrossocheilus...in the lower lip morphology, and in the numbers of pharyngeal tooth rows and branched dorsal-fin rays. The lower lip morphology of Pseudocrossocheilus...is not shared with Hongshuia or even all other labeonine genera. Pseudocrossocheilus has a pair of mental grooves dividing the lower lip into two lateral lobes and one median lobe (vs. absent in Hongshuia); the median lobe is roughly square (vs. roughly round), greatly protruded with its anterior portion densely covered with papillae and its posterior portion not papillose (vs. peripherally greatly protruded to form a ring-like, papillose, fleshy fold and centrally sunken to form a round, flat, papillated, fleshy pad). Hongshuia has two (vs. three) rows of pharyngeal teeth and seven (vs. eight) branched dorsal-fin rays.
The new genus is named after the Chinese name of the river (Hongshui He) in which the type species was collected. Both species are known only from the Hongshui He, a tributary of the Zhujiang (Pearl River) drainage in southern China.
Hongshuia paoli
This species is named after the type locality and is distinguished from H. banmo in having the following combination of characters: well-developed papillae densely covering the rostral fold, which has a deeply indented distal margin; ring-like fold on median lobe of lower lip, with a papillate central fleshy pad on lobe; large, tall, conical tubercles on the tip of the snout and the anterior portion of the lachrymal; long dorsal fin (length 23.7"26.9% standard length); dorsal fin origin nearer to the tip of the snout than to the caudal-fin base; black blotches on the middle interradial membranes between the branched dorsal-fin rays, and a long snout (length 50.0"57.0 % head length).
Hongshuia banmo
Again, this species is named for its type locality. It is distinguished from H. paoli in having a combination of: weakly developed papillae sparsely covering rostral fold, which has a shallowly indented distal margin; median lobe of lower lip with anterior half of ring-like fold on median lobe of lower lip papillate; tiny, short, conical tubercles on the tip of the snout and the anterior portion of the lachrymal; short dorsal fin (length 21.8"23.4% standard length); dorsal-fin origin equidistant from the tip of the snout and the caudal-fin base; the middle interradial membranes between branched dorsal-fin rays without black blotches; and a short snout (length 42.5"47.7% head length).
For more information, see the paper: Zhang, E, X Qiang and J-H Lan (2008) Description of a new genus and two new species of labeonine fishes from South China (Teleostei: Cyprinidae). Zootaxa 1682, pp. 33"44.