The species of Clupisoma from Yunnan, China (Teleostei: Siluriformes: Ailiidae), with a comment on the validity of the family Ailiidae.

Abstract

After comparison of the types of the four species of Clupisoma recorded from Yunnan, China, no morphological differences between Clupisoma nujiangense Chen et al. and C. yunnanensis (He, Huang Li) were found, and it is confirmed that the former is a synonym of the latter. Clupisoma yunnanensis occurs in the middle and lower of Nu-jiang, belonging to the Salween River basin. Clupisoma longianale (Huang) and Clupisoma sinense (Huang) are found in the lower Lancang-jiang, in the Mekong River basin. Using concatenated mitochondrial genes and nuclear genes, Wang et al. (2016) reconstructed the phylogeny of 38 species of catfishes belonging to 28 genera and 14 families. They reinstated the family, Ailiidae for a monophyletic Asian catfish group comprised of the three genera Ailia, Laides and Clupisoma. The family-group name Ailiidae was first proposed by Bleeker (1858) as Ailichthyoidei for a subfamily containing Ailia Gray. As such, there was no legitimate reason for Wang et al. (2016) to propose the Ailiidae as a new family group name but, instead, resurrect the existing name from the synonymy of the Shilbeidae.