Xenocyprididae is a family of freshwater ray-finned fishes, commonly called the East Asian minnows or sharpbellies. They have a natural distribution in Asia. This taxon, sometimes spelt Xenocypridae, was previously regarded to be a subfamily, Xenocyprinae, of the family Cyprinidae. Cyprinidae sensu lato is now divided into a number of smaller families within the suborder Cyprinoidei, in the order Cypriniformes.
Taxonomy Xenocyprididae was previously considered to be a part of the family Cyprinidae, along with the Danionidae, Leuciscidae, Tincidae, and other related fish taxa. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes places all of these groups, formerly considered to be subfamilies of the Cyprinidae sensu lato, in the large, widespread and diverse suborder Cyprinoidei, consisting mainly of freshwater ray-finned fish. This conforms with the classification adopted by other authorities. The suborder Cyprinoidei is classified in the order Cypriniformes.
Genera Xenocyprididae contains the following valid genera:
Alligarina Endruweit, 2025 Anabarilius Cockerell, 1923 Ancherythroculter P. L. Yih & C. K. Wu, 1964 Aphyocypris Günther, 1868 Araiocypris Conway & Kottelat, 2008 Atrilinea Y. T. Chu, 1935 Candidia D. S. Jordan & R. E. Richardson 1909 Chanodichthys Bleeker, 1860 Ctenopharyngodon Steindachner, 1866 Culter Basilewsky, 1855 Distoechodon Peters, 1881 Elopichthys Bleeker, 1860 Gymnodanio Y. F. Chen & S. P. He, 1992 Hainania Koller, 1927 Hemiculter Bleeker, 1860 Hemiculterella Warpachowski, 1888 Hemigrammocypris Fowler, 1910 Hypophthalmichthys Bleeker, 1860 Ischikauia D. S. Jordan & Snyder, 1900 Longiculter Fowler, 1937 Luciobrama Bleeker, 1870 Macrochirichthys Bleeker, 1859 Megalobrama Dybowski, 1872 Metzia D. S. Jordan & W. F. Thompson, 1914 Mylopharyngodon Peters, 1881 Nipponocypris I. S. Chen, J. H. Wu & C. H. Hsu, 2008 Ochetobius Günther, 1868 Opsariichthys Bleeker, 1863 Oxygaster van Hasselt, 1823 Parabramis Bleeker, 1864 Paralaubuca Bleeker, 1864 Parachela Steindachner, 1881 Pararasbora Regan, 1908 Parazacco Y. Y. Chen, 1982 Plagiognathops Berg, 1907 Pogobrama Y. L. Luo, 1995 Pseudobrama Bleeker, 1870 Pseudohemiculter Nichols & C. H. Pope, 1927 Pseudolaubuca Bleeker, 1864 Rasborichthys Bleeker, 1859 Sinibrama H. W. Wu, 1939 Siniichthys Bănărescu, 1970 Squaliobarbus Günther, 1868 Toxabramis Günther, 1873 Xenocyprioides Y. Y. Chen, 1982 Xenocypris Günther, 1868 Zacco D. S. Jordan & Evermann, 1902
The following fossil genera are known:
†Dezaoia Su, Chang & Chen, 2021 (Early Oligocene of Inner Mongolia, China) †Ecocarpia Chen, Fang & Chang, 2005 (Oligocene of Guangxi, China) †Eoctenopharyngodon Su, Chang & Chen, 2021 (Early Oligocene of Hebei, China) †Eoxenocypris Chang, Chen & Tong, 1996 (Middle Miocene of Heilongjiang, China) †Iquius Jordan, 1919 (Middle Miocene of Japan) †Ikiculter Yabumoto, 2010 (Middle Miocene of Japan)
A potential fossil genus of the Xenocyprinae is †Planktophaga Böhme et al., 2014 from the middle-late Eocene of Vietnam. Although initially classified under the East Asian group of Leuciscinae sensu lato (as Hypophthalmichthys was previously classified under it), it has unique pharyngeal teeth only shared with Hypophthalmichthys, and thus may represent a basal member of the group. Fossil teeth of indeterminate xenocyprines were found from the same site.
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