Taxonomic Revision Of Chinese Species Of The Genus Vanmanenia Hora,1932(Teleostei:Balitoridae)

Vanmanenia Hora, one of species-rich hillstream loach genera, was widely known to be distributed across North Vietnam, North Laos and South China. At present, there were23nominal species and12valid species reported in China. The identity of many nominal species was uncertain, and the species diversity of the genus was underestimated. Therefore, in this study we used multivariate morphometrics to investigate the distinctness of species of Chinese Vanmanenia species. Systematic revision of the genus had been made, and principal component analysis, regression analysis were performed for25measurements among the problematic species in the genus. The main conclusions were summarized as follows:1. Our taxonomic study of Chinese species of Vanmanenia demonstrated that specimens currently identified as Vanmanenia pingchowensis from the Qing-Jiang River of the Chang-Jiang basin, LiShui River of Lake Dongting systems and Xinjiang River of Lake Poyang systems were not identical to any currently recognized species of Vanmanenia and here been described as a new species, Vanmanenia maculata.2. Vanmanenia polylepis should be removed from synonymy of V. pingchowensis and regarded as valid. In the original description of V. polylepis, it was described as having137-146lateral-line scales. This character distinguished the species from V. pingchowensis as diagnosed in this study.3. Vanmanenia striata was a valid species distributed in Yunnan, China, while Vanmanenia tetraloba recorded in Vietnam was a species inquirenda.4. Vanmanenia serrilineata was a new record species, reported from Nanla River, Mengla County, Yunnan Province, the upper Mekong River basin.