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<br />RESULTS AND DISCUSSION <br /> <br />Results are divided into three interrelated <br />sections-Species Accounts, Comparative Sum- <br />mary, and Computer-Interactive Key. For iden- <br />tification purposes, users should become famil- <br />iar with and use all three taxonomic tools. <br />Athough prepared for use by UCRB <br />biologists, these taxonomic tools, and other <br />information provided herein, may also be useful <br />to early life history investigators working else- <br />where. Allowing for potential population differ- <br />ences in developmental morphology, these <br />descriptions and the key can be used for identi- <br />fication of covered species wherever they may <br />occur. For example, white and longnose sucker <br />are common throughout much of Colorado (the <br />only Catostomus species in east-slope drain- <br />ages), and indeed much of North America. <br />Bluehead, flannelmouth, and razorback suckers <br />occur in portions of the Lower Colorado River <br />Basin; bluehead sucker also in portions of the <br />Bonneville Basin; and mountain sucker in <br />mountainous regions throughout much of <br />western United States and southwestern Canada. <br />Where two or more of these species occur <br />together and any other closely related sympatric <br />species can be eliminated otherwise as possi- <br />bilities, the computer-interactive key has the <br />flexibility of being limited to just those species <br />and effectively becoming a key for that region, <br />site, or circumstance. <br />Although 553 specimens were analyzed in <br />detail for morphometrics and meristics, and <br />hundreds more were documented for size, <br />developmental state, skeletal characters, and <br />pigmentation patterns, there are undoubtedly <br />rare specimens with character extremes beyond <br />the ranges recorded herein. Indeed, many ofthe <br /> <br />descriptive data updates incorporated herein are <br />verified character-state extensions reported or <br />brought to our attention by users of the earlier <br />edition of this guide (Snyder and Muth 1990). <br />Because of the similarity among larvae of <br />UCRB catostomids, the specific identity of some <br />larvae will remain inconclusive or questionable <br />after application of the key and diagnostic cri- <br />teria provided herein. The identity of such spec- <br />imens must be considered tentative and should <br />be designated as such by appending a question <br />mark ("?") to the most probable taxon name <br />(e.g., "Xyrauchen texanus?", preferably with a <br />foomote on other possibilities), or by leaving the <br />identity at family level (e.g., "unidentified <br />Catostomidae"), or genus (i.e., Catostomus sp.) <br />if other genera can be eliminated. Some incon- <br />clusive specimens may be hybrids. <br />Hybridization among Colorado River <br />System catostomids is well documented (e.g., <br />Holden and Stalnaker 1975, Hubbs et al. 1943, <br />Hubbs and Hubbs 1947, Hubbs and Miller 1953, <br />McAda 1977, McAda and Wydoski 1980, <br />Prewitt 1977, and Smith 1966). Intermediacy of <br />characters for white X bluehead sucker hybrids <br />as small as 25 mm SL and flannelmouth X blue- <br />head sucker hybrids as small as 34 mm SL were <br />documented by Hubbs et al. (1943) and Hubbs <br />and Hubbs (1947) respectively. Based on the <br />key or diagnostic criteria summarized herein, <br />some hybrid metalarvae and early juveniles may <br />be least tentatively identified as such by more <br />experienced users, but because of fewer char- <br />acters, hybrid proto1arvae and meso larvae, will <br />likely be identified as the parental species they <br />most closely resemble or remain questionable. <br /> <br />26 <br />