The taxonomic status of Schizopygopsis kessleri distributed in Qiadam Basin is remained controversial for a long time.In the present study,the complete sequence of the mitochondrial Cyt b gene from twenty four individuals of S.kessleri collected from the Geermu River and Tuosu Lake in Qiadam Basin and twelve individuals of S.pylzovi from the Yellow River and Beichuan River in Datong was sequenced.The taxonomic status of S.kessleri was investigated based on the genetic distance and phylogenetic analyses.The results showed that individuals of S.kessleri and S.pylzovi were not formed reciprocal monophyletic clades in the phylogenetic trees,and the average genetic distance(0.54%) between S.kessleri and S.pylzovi was lower than that between other species from the same genus and between species from other genera of subfamily Schizothoracinae,which suggested that S.kessleri from Qiadam Basin has not reached the genetic divergence level of species.The results of previous geological study,coupled with the status of geographical isolation between Qiadam Basin and Yellow River,suggested that S.kessleri should be regarded as a subspecies,S.pylzovi kessleri of S.pylzovi.