Abstract: Cobitis nanningensis sp. nov., the earliest fossil cobitid fish from Early-Middle Oligocene deposits of Nanning Basin, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, southern China, is described here. The new species is represented by specimens of the distinctive suborbital spine. The bifid suborbital spines are 1.8-3.0 mm in length. Their laterocaudal processes are thinner and shorter than their mediocaudal processes, and the lengths of the laterocaudal processes are about 1/3 of those of the mediocaudal ones. The lateral process of the spine is prominent. The new species most closely resembles Cobitis primigenus from the Late Oligocene deposits of Germany, but in C. nanningensis the lateral process of the suborbital spine is more developed. The discovery of the new species and other previously known fossils of Cobitis indicate that the Cobitidae family has had a wide distribution in Eurasia since at least Oligocene.