On the Systematics of the Indian Fishes of the Genus Lepidocephalus Bleeker, with Keys to the Species of the Genus and Genera of the Subfamilies Botiinae and Cobitinae (Cobitidae: Cypriniformes)

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From the introduction:

"While studying the material of the genus Lepidocephalus (Lepidocephalichthys) Bleeker in the collections of the Northern Regional Station, Zoological Survey of lndia, Dehra Dun, we came across interesting material of this genus which enabled us to describe a new species, Lepidocephalus (Lepidocephalichthys) caudofurcatus Tilak & Husain (Tilak and Husain, 1978) and to report the distribution of Lepidocephalus (Lepidocephalichthys) annandalei Chaudhuri in Uttar Pradesh (Tilak and Husain, 1977). Sexual dimorphism in Lepidocephalus (Lepidocephalichthys) guntea (Hamilton) was also studied and additional differences in the sexes were reported (Tilak and Husain, 1976). Recently, Pillai and Yazdani (1976) have described two new species, Lepidocephalichthys menoni and L. goalparensis and reported the distribution of two other species, L. irrorata Hora and L. annandalei Chaudhuri from Assam and Meghalaya. Yazdani (1976a, b) also reported the distribution of L. annandalei in Kaziranga Wild Life Sanctuary, (Dist. Sibsagar, Assam). Pillai and Yazdani (1976) and Yazdani (1976a, b) appear to have confused the specific identity of the different species (except L. irrorata) of this genus dealt with by them. Therefore, the original material, which formed the basis of the study by these authors has been recently examined in detail and remarks on it are given in the text below.

There appears to be considerable confusion among the fish taxonomists regarding the identity of the different species of genus Lepidocephalus Bleeker (Hora and Gupta, 1941; Banarescu and Nalbant, 1968; Tilak, 1973; Menon, 1974; Yazdani, 1976a, b, 1977; Mathur and Mishra, 1976; Pillai and Yazdani, 1976, 1977). It has been considered necessary, therefore, to look into the systematics of the known species of the genus Lepidocephalus Bleeker from India in this paper."

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