This genus is restricted to southern Africa; all of its species were formerly placed in Barbus, the genus of typical barbels and their relatives. One taxon was originally described as P. leonhardi – this, however, was a European fish for which the genus was erroneously proposed anew. It has since turned out to be nothing other than the barbel B. peloponnesius.
Species and systematics
Pseudobarbus was placed in the paraphyletic "subfamily" Barbinae by those that recognize that group, but if not included in the Cyprininae outright it might – like the other small African barbs – belong to an as yet unnamed subfamily.[1]
Currently, 11 recognized species are placed in this genus:[2]
Pseudobarbus calidus – synonym of Sedercypris calidus (Clanwilliam redfin)
Pseudobarbus capensis – synonym of Cheilobarbus capensis (Cape whitefish, Berg-breede River whitefish)
Pseudobarbus erubescens – synonym of Sedercypris erubescens (Twee River redfin)
Pseudobarbus hospes – synonym of Namaquacypris hospes (Namaquab barb)
Pseudobarbus serra – synonym of Cheilobarbus serra (Sawfin)
Pseudobarbus trevelyani – synonym of Amatolacypris trevelyani (Border barb)
Some South African "redfin" barb were previously placed in Barbus, mainly due to a lack of taxonomic and systematic study of that huge "wastebin genus". They formed a clade distinct from the traditional Pseudobarbus and were more plesiomorphic. Certainly, they did not belong in the typical barbel:[1]
References
^ abde Graaf, Martin; Megens, Hendrik-Jan; Samallo, Johannis & Sibbing, Ferdinand A. (2007): Evolutionary origin of Lake Tana's (Ethiopia) small Barbus species: indications of rapid ecological divergence and speciation. Anim. Biol.57(1): 39–48. doi:10.1163/157075607780002069 (HTML abstract)
^Chakona, A. & Swartz, E.R. (2013): A new redfin species, Pseudobarbus skeltoni (Cyprinidae, Teleostei), from the Cape Floristic Region, South Africa. Zootaxa, 3686 (5): 565–577.
^Chakona, A., Swartz, E.R. & Skelton, P.H. (2014): A new species of redfin (Teleostei, Cyprinidae, Pseudobarbus) from the Verlorenvlei River system, South Africa. ZooKeys, 453: 121–137.
