An ichthyological survey for the lower Yarlung Tsangpo River drainage in November 2016 found a new species of Garra, which is described in this study. Garra tibetana sp. nov., a new species of the subfamily Labeoninae, family Cyprinidae, is recognized from the Haguo River, a tributary of the Yarlung Tsangpo River in Motuo County, southeastern Tibet. The holotype and paratypes are both deposited at the Museum of Aquatic Organisms, Institute of Hydrobiology (IHB), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China. This species was once misidentified as Garra kempi Hora 1921 for a long period. It is distinguished from G. kempi by having a faint proboscis, the chest covered by scales, fewer branched anal-fin rays, a shallower body and a more slender caudal peduncle. In addition, based on the morphological data (Table 1), it could be distinguished from related congeners of Garra primarily by the following combination of characters: having a faint proboscis on the snout, the transverse lobe and lateral surface of snout covered with several unicuspid tubercles; the chest and belly covered by scales; branched dorsal-fin rays 7?﹣8?, branched anal-fin rays 4?; lateral-line scales 39﹣42, predorsal scales 13﹣14 and circumpeduncular scale rows 12﹣13; body depth 13.5%﹣17.6% of standard length, caudal-peduncle depth 8.8%﹣11.0% of standard length, distance from anus to anal fin 47%﹣56% of pelvic-anal distance. Principal diagnostic characters for G. tibetana and related congeners are shown in Table 2.