Occidentarius Betancur-R. & Acero P., 2007

Marceniuk, Alexandre Pires, Oliveira, Claudio & Ferraris Jr, Carl J., 2024, A new classification of the family Ariidae (Osteichthyes: Ostariophysi: Siluriformes) based on combined analyses of morphological and molecular data, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 200 (2), pp. 426-476 : 435-436

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.

Figures

Figure 1. MP analysis.Subfamilies (SF) Galeichthyinae (pink), Bagreinae (bright blue), and Ariinae (dark blue). Tribe (T) Ariini (blue), Cathopsini (orange), Genidentini tribe nov. (brown), and Sciadeini tribe nov. (light green).Subtribe (ST) Ariina (light blue) and Doiichthyina (green). Incertae sedis taxa (IS) (red). Numbers over branches correspond to the bootstrap support.

Figure 2. ML analysis. Subfamilies (SF) Galeichthyinae (pink), Bagreinae (bright blue), and Ariinae (dark blue). Tribe (T) Ariini (blue), Cathopsini (orange), Genidentini tribe nov. (brown), and Sciadeini tribe nov. (light green). Subtribe (ST) Ariina (light blue) and Doiichthyina (green). Incertae sedis taxa (IS) (red). Numbers over branches correspond to the bootstrap support.

Figure 3. BI analysis.Subfamilies (SF) Galeichthyinae (pink), Bagreinae (bright blue), and Ariinae (dark blue). Tribe (T) Ariini (blue), Cathopsini (orange), Genidentini tribe nov. (brown), and Sciadeini tribe nov. (light green).Subtribe (ST) Ariina (light blue) and Doiichthyina (green). Incertae sedis taxa (IS) (red). Numbers over branches correspond to the bootstrap support.

Figure 7. Representative skull, in dorsal view, and distribution of the Ariinae incertae sedis. A, Occidentarius platypogon, catfishesbone. acnatsci.org.

Figure 8. Occidentarius platypogon, BMNH 1864.1.26.316-319, eastern Pacific, type species of the genus.