Siluriformes

Diplomystes nahuelbutaensis, copyright Pablo Reyes Lobao-Tello.

Belongs within: Ostariophysi.
Contains: Auchenipteridae, Doradidae, Plotosidae, Siluridae, Claroteidae, Amphiliidae, Loricaroidei, Bagridae, Sisoroidea, Heptapteridae, Pimelodidae, Ictaluridae, Clariidae, Ariidae.

The Siluriformes are the catfishes, an order of scale-less fishes with distinctive barbels around the mouth. Catfishes include both freshwater and marine representatives, with the former being more diverse. Most authors have regarded the South American velvet catfish Diplomystes as the sister group of all other Siluriformes; Diplomystes and the fossil Hypsidoris farsonensis are the only catfish with a well-developed maxilla bearing teeth. Hypsidoris farsonensis is united with other Siluroidei by the presence of seventeen or fewer principal caudal rays, and an extension of lamellar bone over the ventral surface of the fifth centrum, which is in turn joined closely to the complex centrum (Diogo & Peng 2009).

Characters (from Bond 1996): True scales absent, skin bare or with bony plates which may bear dermal denticles. Subopercular, symplectic and parietal bones absent. Weberian apparatus of five or more vertebrae with second to fourth (or fifth) vertebrae fused. Barbels present around mouth. Premaxillary teeth present; maxillary teeth absent. Intermuscular bones absent. Pectoral and dorsal fins usually with large spines at leading edges; spines with locking mechanism holding them erect, often with associated venom glands. Adipose fin usually present.

Siluriformes [Nematognathi, Siluri, Siluroidiformes]
    |--Diplomystes [Diplomystidae, Diplomystoidei] DP09
    |    |  i. s.: D. mesembrinus SLH06
    |    |--D. camposensis DP09
    |    |--D. nahuelbutaensis DP09
    |    `--+--D. chilensis DP09 [=Diplomyste chilensis B96]
    |       `--D. viedmensis SL86 [=Olivaichthys viedmensis DP09]
    `--Siluroidei R-HH05
         |--Hypsidoris [Hypsidoridae, Hypsidoroidea] DP09
         |    `--H. farsonensis Lundberg & Case 1970 DP09
         `--Siluroidea [Arioida] DP09
              |  i. s.: Titanoglanis DP09
              |         Austroglanis SLH06 [Austroglanididae DP09]
              |         Lacantunia Rodiles-Hernández, Hendrickson et al. 2005 R-HH05 [Lacantuniidae DP09]
              |           `--*L. enigmatica Rodiles-Hernández, Hendrickson et al. 2005 R-HH05
              |         Doradoidea SLH06
              |           |--Auchenipteridae SLH06
              |           `--Doradidae DP09
              |         Plotosidae SLH06
              |         Chaca [Chacidae] SLH06
              |           `--C. chaca M58
              |         Siluridae SLH06
              |         0--Proeutropius DP09
              |         `--Pangasiidae SLH06
              |              |--Pangasianodon SLH06
              |              |    |--P. gigas B96
              |              |    `--P. hypophthalmus SLH07
              |              `--+--Helicophagus waandersii SLH06
              |                 `--Pangasius SLH06
              |                      |--P. indicus von der Marck 1876 P93
              |                      |--P. larnaudei SLH06
              |                      |--P. sanitwongsei USDI77
              |                      `--P. sutchi T07
              |         0--Claroteidae SLH06
              |         `--+--+--Amphiliidae SLH06
              |            |  `--Malapterurus [Malapteruridae] SLH06
              |            |       |--M. beninensis SLH06
              |            |       |--M. electricus B96
              |            |       `--M. tanganyikaensis SLH06
              |            `--Mochokidae SLH06
              |                 |--+--Atopochilus savorgnani SLH06
              |                 |  `--Euchilichthys dybowski SLH06
              |                 `--+--Microsynodontis SLH06
              |                    `--Synodontis SLH06
              |                         |--S. batesii SLH06
              |                         |--S. melanostictus B50
              |                         `--S. victoriae G74
              |--Loricaroidei DP09
              `--+--Cetopsidae [Cetopsinae] DP09
                 |    |--Hemicetopsis candiru F15
                 |    |--Helogenes [Helogenidae, Helogeninae] DP09
                 |    |    `--H. marmoratus SLH06
                 |    `--Cetopsis Agassiz 1929 TP86
                 |         |--C. caecutiens (Lichtenstein 1819) TP86
                 |         `--C. candiru SLH06
                 `--+--+--Bagridae AS09
                    |  |--+--Sisoroidea SLH06
                    |  |  `--+--Laides hexanema SLH06
                    |  |     `--Ailia [Ailiinae] SLH06
                    |  |          `--A. coila SLH06
                    |  `--Horabagridae SLH06
                    |       |--Horabagrus brachysoma SLH06
                    |       |--Platytropius SLH06
                    |       `--Pseudeutropius SLH06
                    |            |--P. brachypopterus SLH06
                    |            `--P. garua C01
                    `--+--Pimelodoidea SLH06
                       |    |--+--Heptapteridae DP09
                       |    |  `--Conorhynchos conirostris DP09
                       |    `--+--Pimelodidae AS09
                       |       `--Pseudopimelodidae SLH06
                       |            |--Batrochoglanis raninus SLH06
                       |            `--Pseudopimelodus SLH06
                       |                 |--P. bufonius SLH06
                       |                 `--P. mangurus SLH06
                       `--+--Ictaluroidea SLH06
                          |    |--Ictaluridae AS09
                          |    `--Cranoglanis [Cranoglanididae] SLH06
                          |         `--C. bouderius NE12
                          `--+--Clarioidea SLH06
                             |    |--Clariidae AS09
                             |    `--Heteropneustes AT05 [Heteropneustidae DP09, Saccobranchidae]
                             |         `--H. fossilis (Bloch 1794) AT05 [=Saccobranchus fossilis B96]
                             `--Arioidea SLH06
                                  |--Ariidae AS09
                                  `--Anchariidae SLH06
                                       |--Ancharius DP09
                                       `--Gogo Ng & Sparks 2005 DP09
                                            `--G. arcuatus SLH06

Siluriformes incertae sedis:
  Andinichthys Gayet 1988 [Andinichthyidae] GM01
  Ompok B96
  Doiichthys [Doiichthyidae] M58
    `--D. novaeguineae Weber 1913 M58
  Bucklandium diluvii König 1825 M02
  Haustor catus D56
  Hypostomum plecostomum H04
  Hologenes [Hologeneidae] F15
    `--H. marmoratus F15
  Pygidiidae [Pygidiinae] F15
    |--Hatcheria areolata F15
    `--Pygidium F15
         |--P. dispar F15
         |--P. poeyanum (Cope 1877) [=Trichomycterus poeyanus] F15
         `--P. rivulatum [incl. Trichomycterus pardus Cope 1874] F15
  Cyclopium [Cyclopiidae] F15
    |--*C. chimborazoi Fowler 1915 F15
    |--C. cirratum (Regan 1912) [=Arges cirratus] F15
    `--C. sabalo F15
  Paulicea luetkeni C01
  Sorubimichthys planiceps C01

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[AT05] Agnese, J.-F., & G. G. Teugels. 2005. Insight into the phylogeny of African Clariidae (Teleostei, Siluriformes): implications for their body shape evolution, biogeography, and taxonomy. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 36: 546–553.

[AS09] Alfaro, M. E., F. Santini, C. Brock, H. Alamillo, A. Dornburg, D. L. Rabosky, G. Carnevale & L. J. Harmon. 2009. Nine exceptional radiations plus high turnover explain species diversity in jawed vertebrates. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 106 (32): 13410–13414.

[B96] Bond, C. E. 1996. Biology of Fishes 2^nd ed. Saunders College Publishing: Fort Worth.

[B50] Brooks, J. L. 1950. Speciation in ancient lakes (concluded). Quarterly Review of Biology 25: 131–176.

[C01] Chambrier, A. de. 2001. A new tapeworm from the Amazon, Amazotaenia yvettae gen. n., sp. n. (Eucestoda: Proteocephalidea) from the siluriform fishes Brachyplatystoma filamentosum and B. vaillanti (Pimelodidae). Revue Suisse de Zoologie 108 (2): 303–316.

[D56] Dawes, B. 1956. The Trematoda with special reference to British and other European forms. University Press: Cambridge.

[DP09] Diogo, R., & Z. Peng. 2009. State of the art of siluriform higher-level phylogeny. In: Grande, T., F. Poyato-Ariza & R. Diogo (eds) Gonorynchiformes and Ostariophysan Relationships: A Comprehensive Review pp. 465–515. Springer.

[F15] Fowler, H. W. 1915. Notes on nematognathous fishes. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 67 (2): 203–243.

[GM01] Gayet, M., L. G. Marshall, T. Sempere, F. J. Meunier, H. Cappetta & J-C. Rage. 2001. Middle Maastrichtian vertebrates (fishes, amphibians, dinosaurs and other reptiles, mammals) from Pajcha Pata (Bolivia). Biostratigraphic, palaeoecologic and palaeobiostratigraphic implications. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 169: 39–68.

[G74] Greenwood, P. H. 1974. The cichlid fishes of Lake Vistoria, East Africa: The biology and evolution of a species flock. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History): Zoology Suppl. 6: 1–134.

[H04] Haeckel, E. 1899–1904. Kunstformen der Natur. Bibliographisches Institut: Leipzig und Wien.

[M02] Mlíkovský, J. 2002. Cenozoic Birds of the World. Part 1: Europe. Ninox Press: Praha.

[M58] Munro, I. S. R. 1958. The fishes of the New Guinea region: A check-list of the fishes of New Guinea incorporating records of species collected by the Fisheries Survey Vessel “Fairwind” during the years 1948 to 1950. Papua and New Guinea Agricultural Journal 10 (4): 97–369 (reprinted 1958. Territory of Papua and New Guinea Fisheries Bulletin no. 1).

[NE12] Near, T. J., R. I. Eytan, A. Dornburg, K. L. Kuhn, J. A. Moore, M. P. Davis, P. C. Wainwright, M. Friedman & W. L. Smith. 2012. Resolution of ray-finned fish phylogeny and timing of diversification. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 109 (34): 13698–13703.

[P93] Patterson, C. 1993. Osteichthyes: Teleostei. In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Fossil Record 2 pp. 621–656. Chapman & Hall: London.

[R-HH05] Rodiles-Hernández, R., D. A. Hendrickson, J. G. Lundberg & J. M. Humphries. 2005. Lacantunia enigmatica (Teleostei: Siluriformes) a new and phylogenetically puzzling freshwater fish from Mesoamerica. Zootaxa 1000: 1–24.

[SL86] Schaefer, S. A., & G. V. Lauder. 1986. Historical transformation of functional design: evolutionary morphology of feeding mechanisms in loricarioid catfishes. Systematic Zoology 35 (4): 489–508.

[SLH06] Sullivan, J. P., J. G. Lundberg & M. Hardman. 2006. A phylogenetic analysis of the major groups of catfishes (Teleostei: Siluriformes) using rag1 and rag2 nuclear gene sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 41: 636–662.

[T07] Tagami, K. 2007. Phoretic histiostomatid mites on the smoky-brown cockroach Periplaneta fuliginosa (Blattaria: Blattidae), contained unknown deutonymph of Histiostoma piscium (Astigmata, Histiostomatidae). In: Morales-Malacara, J. B., V. M. Behan-Pelletier, E. Ueckermann, T. M. Pérez, E. G. Estrada-Venegas & M. Badii (eds) Acarology XI: Proceedings of the International Congress pp. 249–255. Instituto de Biología and Faculdad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Sociedad Latinoamericana de Acarología: México.

[TP86] Thinès, G., & G. Proudlove. 1986. Pisces. In: Botosaneanu, L. (ed.) Stygofauna Mundi: A Faunistic, Distributional, and Ecological Synthesis of the World Fauna inhabiting Subterranean Waters (including the Marine Interstitial) pp. 709–733. E. J. Brill/Dr W. Backhuys: Leiden.

[USDI77] USDI (United States Department of the Interior). 1977. Endangered and threatened wildlife and plants—republication of list of species. Federal Register 42: 36420–36431.

Last updated: 12 February 2022.