ARIIDAE Bleeker, 1862

Published, First, 2007, Checklist of catfishes, recent and fossil (Osteichthyes: Siluriformes), and catalogue of siluriform primary types, Zootaxa 1418, pp. 1-628 : 30-31

ARIIDAE Bleeker, 1862

Hemipimelodinae Gill, 1861c: 46. Type genus: Hemipimelodus Bleeker, 1857 .

Arii Bleeker, 1862 (in Bleeker, 1862–63): 7, 25. Type genus: Arius Valenciennes, 1840 .

Batrachocephalinae Gill, 1893:132. Type genus: Batrachocephalus Bleeker, 1846 .

Doiichthyidae Weber, 1913: 532. Type genus: Doiichthys Weber, 1913 .

Bagreidae Schultz, 1944c: 182. Type genus: Bagre Oken, 1817 .

Remarks: The classification of species within the Ariidae is arguably the most poorly resolved of any catfish family. In recent years, there have been three independent attempts to examine the phylogeny of the family (Marceniuk, 2003; Kailola, 2004; and Betancur et al., 2004) and produce classifications that reflect the resulting phylogenetic hypotheses. The phylogenies and their resulting classifications differ markedly from each other, which makes it quite difficult to summarize the current understanding of the taxonomy herein. Thus, many of the generic assignments and synonymies listed here must be considered as tentative. One theme that is repeated in the various studies on the Ariidae is that the genus Arius was previously a taxonomic wastebasket and should instead be restricted to a group of Indo-Pacific species. Thus, species that had been treated as valid in Arius from the Americas, or western Africa, are now placed in other genera or, when no clear alternative was indicated, as Incertae sedis, herein. The family-level name Osteogeneiosinae was proposed by Fowler (1951b: 3) in a manner that made it available when published but is now not available (see Ferraris & de Pinna, 1999, for details). The name Arius cous , which appeared in Heckel (1843) and also in Hyrtl (1859) appears to have been based on Silurus cous Linnaeus (now Glyptothorax cous ) and is not an available name even though it has been treated as such.

Taxonomic summaries: Taylor (1986a, 1986b, Africa); Taylor (1990, eastern tropical Atlantic); Marceniuk & Ferraris (2003, Neotropics).

Reviews: Taylor & Menezes (1978, western central Atlantic) and Acero (2002, western central Atlantic); Jayaram & Dhanze (1979, South Asia); Jayaram (1983, western Indian Ocean); Kailola (1990, freshwaters of northern New Guinea); Daget (1992, West Africa); Kailola & Bussing (1995, Eastern Pacific); Kailola (1999, Western Pacific).

Phylogeny: Betancur-R. (2003), Betancur-R. et al. (2004, Neotropics); Kailola (2004, Indo-Pacific).

Evolution: Jayaram & Dhanze (1985, South Asia).

Identification guide: Jayaram (1982, South Asia).

Biogeography: Cione et al. (1996, southern South America).

Keys: Kailola (2004: 123, genera); Marceniuk (2005a, Brazil).

26 genera, 133 species; 13 fossil species, not including otolith-based taxa.