The general distribution of monogenean parasites of aquatic vertebrates inh
abiting Chinese inland waters is summarised. Five hundred and seventy-two o
ut of a total of 581 species of monogeneans were discovered on fish, while
only nine species were found on Amphibia and Reptilia. Most dactylogyrids a
nd diplozoids parasitise cyprinids, while ancyrocephalids occur on silurids
and cyprinids, and gyrodactylids are found mainly on cyprinids and cobitid
s. Analyses of host-specificity and host-diversity suggests that the family
Ancyrocephalidae should be divided into several families parallel with the
Dactylogyridae. Of 12 subfamilies of the Cyprinidae, only the Gobiobotinae
was found to be free of infection with monogeneans, and the genus Dactylog
yrus has more species than any other monogenean genus associated with every
cyprinid subfamily.