Like many other "barbs", it was long included in Barbus. It appears to be a fairly close relative of the typical barbels and relatives – the genus Barbus proper –, but closer still to the large hexaploid species nowadays separated in Labeobarbus. Because of the improved phylogenetic knowledge which indicates Barbus was highly paraphyletic in its wide circumscription –, Carasobarbus and some other closely related "barbs" (e.g. "Barbus" reinii) may be included in Labeobarbus to avoid a profusion of very small genera.[2] This genus is now classified in the subfamilyTorinae.[3]
de Graaf, Martin; Megens, Hendrik-Jan; Samallo, Johannis & Sibbing, Ferdinand A. (2007): Evolutionary origin of Lake Tana's (Ethiopia) small Barbus species: indications of rapid ecological divergence and speciation. Anim. Biol.57(1): 39–48. doi:10.1163/157075607780002069 (HTML abstract)
