Conspectus cobitidum - Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research

others may disagree and might prefer to recognise a family
Balitoridae with subfamilies Ellopostomatinae, Nemacheilinae,
Balitorinae, Barbuccinae, Serpenticobitinae and Gastromyzontinae;
this makes no difference.
Note that a family-group name retains its original author and
date even if used at different ranks. For example Nemacheilinae
Regan, 1911 retains Regan, 1911 as author even if treated
as family Nemacheilidae or tribe Nemacheilini.
Listed names. — I list all the names I found, including infrasubspecific
names, which are given in their original form.
The headings of all generic and specific accounts have the
correct spelling of all valid names. In the synonymies, however,
all names are given with their original combination (except
that interpolated subgeneric names are omitted) and with
their original spelling, including misspellings and diacritic
marks [ü, è, ñ, etc.]. Capitalised letters and diacritic marks
are not permitted by the Code (arts. 27, 28, Glossary) in
species- and genus-group names and must be corrected. Incorrect
original spellings are used only in the synonymies
but they have been corrected in all other circumstances, especially
in the discussions under Taxonomic notes and Nomenclatural
notes.
Genera and species. — Genera are listed in alphabetic sequence
within families. Species are listed in alphabetic sequence
within genera.
Entries for genera include the valid name of the genus (in
bold, as a heading), the name of the genus with the spelling
in the original description, the author, the year of publication,
and the number of the page with principal information.
This is followed by information on possible subgeneric status
in the original description, type species, mode of designation,
information on possible nomenclatural acts associated
with the name, and grammatical gender. This information
is provided for all names considered to be synonyms, in chronological
sequence.
Entries for species include the valid name of the species (in
bold, as a heading), the name of the species with the spelling
in the original description, the author, the year of publication,
the number of the page on which the actual description
starts (or where the elements necessary to make the name
available occur) and the number of the main illustration
(ignoring those showing maps, anatomical details, portrait
of collector, etc.). This is followed by a block in parentheses
with information on type locality, primary types and possible
nomenclatural acts associated with the name. If the name
is based largely or totally on references to the older literature,
this information is listed first in the block in parentheses.
The block in parentheses also includes information on
the spelling of the end of the name associated with the three
grammatical genders of genera (see explanation below). This
information is provided for all names considered to be synonyms,
in chronological sequence.
Transliteration of non-Latin alphabets. — Author names,
place names, and journal names in non-Latin alphabets, and
THE RAFFLES BULLETIN OF ZOOLOGY 2012
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in languages using other notations, have been transcribed;
titles of books and papers have been translated. When a transliteration
is used in the original work (e.g. in the text, in an
abstract, in a table of contents), the same spelling is used
here. There are some inconsistencies as it happens that transliterations
or translations used in abstracts or tables of contents
may be different from the actual title of a paper. Frequently,
transliteration systems have changed with time and
no standardisation has been attempted here. Older bibliographies
or indexes may have used earlier transliteration systems
and I consider that a standardised use could actually
complicate bibliographic search, especially for those not
familiar with these languages.
Unfortunately, some accents and diacritic marks may have
disappeared as standard western European keyboards and
softwares do not support them. This especially applies in the
case of the Vietnamese alphabet.
Type localities. — The type locality is the locality at which
the holotype, lectotype or neotype was collected. Although
mentioned in the Code, the type locality has no nomenclatural
role. Simply, it is a convenient wording, it is shorter to
say 'type locality' than 'the locality at which the primary namebearing
type was collected', or to give the locality data in
full.
In cases where there is no primary type but a series of syntypes
from different localities, the type locality is the sum of
all the localities of the syntypes, and all their localities are
listed (separated by a slash [ / ] where clarity requires it).
Localities are usually given with the original spelling; this
sometimes results in different spellings being used for the
same locality under different headings; I have tried to introduce
some consistency, but only in cases where I was certain
that the different spellings were really referring to the same
place, or when the different spellings were used for the locality
of the very same specimen, or referring to the very same
bibliographic source.
Alternative spellings, modern equivalents, present names of
political entities, transliterations and coordinates (if any) have
been added in square brackets, but this has not been systematically
attempted. Most text in square brackets is not from
original authors.
Locality descriptions have been translated into English when
possible and/or justified. In some cases, words meaning river,
lake, etc. are part of the name in the original language
and they have not been deleted in order to avoid ambiguities
when using local maps (but the word river, lake, etc. has
been added). Local names have been used, except for a few
well known rivers and lakes with a common English name
used in international literature (e.g. Mekong, Irrawaddy,
Salween, Ganges, Red River). For most localities, when feasible
I have tried to add information on present political entities
(country, province, state, etc.) and river drainages as
an aid to the reader. For larger topographic features which
have several different names, a single one has been consistently
used; this especially applies to those extending in dif-