Botiinae
| Botiinae | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| The tiger loach Syncrossus berdmorei | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Superclass: | Osteichthyes |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Subclass: | Neopterygii |
| Infraclass: | Teleostei |
| Superorder: | Ostariophysi |
| Order: | Cypriniformes |
| Superfamily: | Cobitoidea |
| Family: | Cobitidae |
| Subfamily: | Botiinae |
| Tribes | |
| Synonyms | |
|
Botiidae |
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Botiinae is the mainly Southeast Asian subfamily of cypriniform ray-finned fishes that contains the genus Botia. Placed in the true loach family Cobitidae in our time, they were formerly often treated as a distinct cobitoid family Botiidae.
They are more robust than most of their relatives in the Cobitinae and tend to have a more or less arched back, yielding an altogether more fusiform shape. Botiinae typically have a pointed snout of intermediate length, while many Cobitinae are remarkably stub-nosed.
[edit] Systematics and taxonomy
The Botiinae can be quite unequivocally divided into two tribes (subfamilies when the Botiinae are treated as a family Botiidae) – the more diverse Botiini and the less diverse Leptobotiini. Most Botiini genera were lumped into Botia in the 20th century, but this was recognized to be erroneous in the early 21st century. The tribes and genera, listed in the presumed phylogenetic sequence, are:[1]
- Botia – Indian loaches
- Chromobotia – Clown Loach
- Syncrossus Blyth, 1860 – tiger loaches
- Yasuhikotakia – Mekong loaches (paraphyletic?)
- Sinibotia Fang, 1936
- Leptobotia
- Parabotia Dabry de Thiersant, 1872
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Kottelat (2004), Tang et al. (2008)
[edit] References
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Botiinae |
- Kottelat, M. (2004): Botia kubotai, a new species of loach (Teleostei: Cobitidae) from the Ataran River basin (Myanmar), with comments on botiine nomenclature and diagnosis of a new genus. Zootaxa 401: 1-18. PDF abstract and first page image
- Tang, Qiong-ying; Yu, Dan & Liu, Huan-zhang (2008): 斑纹薄鳅 (Leptobotia zebra) 应该为斑纹沙鳅 (Sinibotia zebra) ["Leptobotia zebra Should Be Revised as Sinibotia zebra (Cypriniformes-Botiidae)"]. Zoological Research 29(1): 1-9 [Chinese with English abstract]. PDF fulltext
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