Occidentarius Betancur-R. & Acero P., 2007

(Figs 1–3, 7–8)

Type species: Arius platypogon Günther, 1864 .

Diagnosis

Posterior branch of lateral ethmoid depressed (13, 0> 1); fenestra delimited by lateral ethmoid and frontal very small or indistinct (17, 1> 0); temporal fossa absent (38, 0> 1); epioccipital contacting small narrow area of diagonal crest associated with neural spine of fourth vertebra (44, 2> 0); ventral crest of parieto-supraoccipital process well-developed through entire extension of process (48, 0> 1); transverse crest associated with neural spine of fourth vertebra very high (200, 0> 1); median crest associated with neural spine of third vertebra very high (201, 0> 1); median crest associated with neural spine of fourth vertebra very high (202, 0> 1). Ambiguous optimization: Vomer lateral processes wide (53, 1> 0); tooth plates associated with vomer present (55, 0> 1); subvertebral process indistinct or weakly developed (78, 1> 0); dorsal crest of urohyal projected anteriorly (156, 0> 1).

Included species

Occidentarius platypogon (Günther, 1864) .

Habitat and distribution: Marine, western America (Fig. 7).

Remarks

The genus Occidentarius was well defined in previous morphological and molecular studies (Marceniuk and Menezes 2003, Betancur-R. 2009, Marceniuk et al. 2012), which was corroborated in the present analysis, but without consensus regarding its relationships.