An overview of labeonin relationships and the phylogenetic placement of the Afro-Asian genus Garra Hamilton, 1922 (Teleostei: Cyprinidae), with the description of five new species of Garra from Ethiopia, and a key to all African species

Abstract

A clarification of the morphological character data supporting the hypothesis of labeonin monophyly, and also for one of its subgroups, the Garraina, is presented. As an aid to ongoing studies, a full listing of putative labeonin genera is provided. Included in the Garraina is the widespread and taxonomically problematical Afro-Asian genus Garra. Getahun (2000) in an unpublished thesis clarified much of the taxonomic confusion surrounding the African members of this genus, and we summarize many of his conclusions in the form of an artificial identification key for all 17 valid species of Garra on the African continent. The diversity of Garra in Ethiopia, the geographical centre of species diversity for the genus in Africa, is resolved and redescriptions of the six species previously recognized in Ethiopian inland waters are provided, along with formal taxonomic descriptions of an additional five new species from that country. Four of the new species are endemic to Ethiopia: Garra regressus sp. nov., Garra duobarbis sp. nov., Garra geba sp. nov., and Garra tana sp. nov., whereas the fifth, Garra dembecha sp. nov., is more widespread and found also in Eritrea, Kenya, and Tanzania in eastern Africa. © 2007 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2007, 150, 41–83.