Xiao Chen‡§, Shiping Su‡, Xiaohua Zhang‡, Richard Laan|, E Zhang§Corresponding author: Xiao Chen ( chenxiao2010ouc@163.com ) © Xiao Chen, Shiping Su, Xiaohua Zhang, Richard Laan, E Zhang. This is an open access preprint distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Citation:
Chen X, Su S, Zhang X, Laan R, Zhang E (2024) On the identity of Culter oxycephalus (Teleostei, Cypriniforms, Xenocyprididae), with notes on the validity of eight cultrin fish species from East Asia. ARPHA Preprints. https://doi.org/10.3897/arphapreprints.e121056 |  |
The identification problems of cultrin fish species from East Asia are discussed. Culter oxycephalus Bleeker, 1871 is found to be a senior synonym of Culter oxycephaloides Kreyenberg & Pappenheim, 1908 and is redescribed. Culter abramoides Dybowski, 1872 is a senior synonym of Erythroculter dabryi shinkainensis Yi & Zhu, 1959. Examination of three specimens identified as Erythroculter recurviceps and Culter oxycephalus by John Treadwell Nichols was found to be in error. Based on the data obtained during the field survey and coupled with known literature and the latest taxonomic development of relevant taxa, there are five and six cultrin fishes in Lake Dongting and Lake Xingkai, respectively, namely the Bream-shaped Culter Chanodichthys abramoides, Dabry’s Culter Chanodichthys dabryi, Topmouth Culter Chanodichthys erthropterus, Mongolian Culter Chanodichthys mongolicus, Sharphead Culter Chanodichthys oxycephalus, Predatory Culter Culter alburnus and Culter compressocorpus. This study clarifies the interrelationships between Chanodichthys oxycephalus and Chanodichthys oxycephaloides, and taxonomically explains the absence of records of the Sharphead Culter for more than half a century. We also report six cultrin fishes distributing in the Heilong-Jiang basin of China: Chanodichthys abramoides, Ch. dabryi, Ch. erythropterus, Ch. mongolicus, Culter alburnus and C. compressocorpus.