Carasobarbus Karaman, 1971

Borkenhagen, Kai & Krupp, Friedhelm, 2013, Taxonomic revision of the genus Carasobarbus Karaman, 1971 (Actinopterygii, Cyprinidae), ZooKeys 339, pp. 1-53 : 3-4

Genus Carasobarbus Karaman, 1971

Carasobarbus Karaman 1971: 230; type species: Systomus luteus Heckel, 1843, by original designation, also by monotypy.

Kosswigobarbus Karaman 1971: 239; type species: Cyclocheilichthys kosswigi Ladiges, 1960, by original designation, also by monotypy.

Pseudotor Karaman 1971: 229; type species: Barbus fritschii Günther, 1874, by original designation.

Diagnosis.

Medium-sized cyprinids with an ossified, smooth last unbranched dorsal-fin ray; 9 or 10 branched dorsal-fin rays and 6 branched anal-fin rays; large, shield- shaped scales with numerous parallel radii; the lateral line with 25 to 39 scales; the pharyngeal teeth hooked at their tips, their count being 2.3.5-5.3.2 or 2.3.4-4.3.2; 1 or 2 pairs of barbels present.

Carasobarbus species are evolutionarily hexaploid ( Machordom and Doadrio 2001, Gorshkova et al. 2002, Leggatt and Iwama 2003, Tsigenopoulos et al. 2010).

Remarks and discussion.

' Barbus ' grypus, Mesopotamichthys sharpeyi and ' Barbus ' reinii from the Middle East have five branched rays in the anal fin. The hexaploid species from Africa ( Labeobarbus and Varicorhinus ), which are the sister group to Carasobarbus and the other species from the Middle East ( Tsigenopoulos et al. 2010, KB unpublished), have five branched rays in the anal fin. The Asian species ( Tor and Neolissochilus ) are sister group to the species from Africa and the Middle East ( Tsigenopoulos et al. 2010, KB unpublished) and have five branched rays in the anal fin. By application of the parsimony principle the possession of six branched anal-fin rays is a synapomorphy of the genus Carasobarbus . The possession of nine to 10 branched rays in the dorsal fin is synapomorphic for Carasobarbus , because the closely related Middle-Eastern species ' Barbus ' grypus, Mesopotamichthys sharpeyi and ' Barbus ' reinii as well as many African hexaploids have the plesiomorphic state of eight branched rays in the dorsal fin. However, in some African species the number of branched dorsal-fin rays is increased convergently. These two synapomorphies establish Carasobarbus as a monophyletic group. Analyses of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene confirm the monophyly of this genus ( Durand et al. 2002, Tsigenopoulos et al. 2010, KB unpublished data). Colli et al. (2009) found Carasobarbus to be monophyletic in their maximum likelihood analysis but not in their neighbour joining analysis. ' Barbus ' grypus Heckel, 1843 is the sister taxon of the genus Carasobarbus ( Tsigenopoulos et al. 2010).

Out of the generic names Barbellion , Barbus , Barynotus , Capoeta , Carasobarbus , Cyclocheilichthys , Kosswigobarbus , Labeobarbus , Luciobarbus , Pseudotor , Puntius , Systomus , Tor , and Varicorhinus that were used for this taxon − or its parts − by previous authors, only Carasobarbus , Kosswigobarbus and Pseudotor are available for the genus in question. All other generic names have not been considered, because their type species are not closely related to the species under discussion here ( Durand et al. 2002, Tsigenopoulos et al. 2010, KB unpublished data) or do not share the characters mentioned above. Carasobarbus , Kosswigobarbus and Pseudotor are subjective synonyms. They all were established in the same publication ( Karaman 1971) and thus none of them has priority. We, acting as First Reviser, select Carasobarbus to have priority in accordance with article 24.2 of the International Code for Zoological Nomenclature ( ICZN 2012). Thus Carasobarbus is the valid name for this genus.

Within the genus, several species share characters that are potentially synapomorph and elucidate sister group relations. Carasobarbus fritschii and Carasobarbus harterti both have pharyngeal bones with four teeth in the medial row. This character is probably synapomorph, because all other congeners have five teeth in the medial row. This group corresponds to Pseudotor . Carasobarbus kosswigi and Carasobarbus sublimus share the possession of a spatulate lower jaw and a median lobe on the lower lip. The spatulate lower jaw is synapomorph, because no congener and no other closely related species shares this character. The close phylogenetic relationship between Carasobarbus kosswigi and Carasobarbus sublimus is confirmed by genetic analysis ( Borkenhagen et al. 2011). These two species correspond to Kosswigobarbus .