Labeoninae is a subfamily of the family Cyprinidae, order Cypriniformes. Oromandibular morphology within the Labeoninae is the greatest among cyprinid fishes. The incongruence between morphological and molecular phylogeny requires a systematic exploration of the significance of morphological characters on the basis of the molecular phylogeny. The extensive sampling is also suitable for exploring the biogeography of the Labeoninae. Therefore, in this study, a total of 292 nucleotide sequences from 73 individuals (representing 24 genera and 73 species) of Labeoninae were analyzed. Results of the character evolution show that all oromandibular morphological characters are homoplastically distributed on the molecular phylogenetic tree, and the results of biogeography suggest that the Labeoninae originated from Southeast Asia and separately dispersed to Africa, East Asia and South Asia.

This study has been published in the Current Zoology 2012 (6).