Carlarius Marceniuk & Menezes, 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 : 449-450

Carlarius Marceniuk & Menezes, 2007

MP 100, BI 1, ML 100

( Figs 1–3 , 20A , 21 )

Type species: Arius heudelotii Valenciennes, 1840 .

450 • Marceniuk et al.

Diagnosis

Mesial border of pterotic with parieto-supraoccipital longer than anterior border with sphenotic (36, 0> 1); epioccipital dorsally visible (41, 0> 1); vomer lateral processes very narrow (53, 0> 1); tooth plates associated with vomer absent (55, 1> 0); first external branchiostegal ray proximally narrow and distally broad (147, 1> 0); posterolateral processes of urohyal almost as long as or longer than distal portion of bone (162, 1> 0).

Ambiguous optimization: Opercle posterior portion not well developed posteriorly (129, 1> 0), state 1 in Carlarius heudelotii .

Included species

Carlarius gigas (Boulenger, 1911) * sedis mutabilis

Carlarius heudelotii Valenciennes, 1840

Carlarius latiscutatus Günther, 1864

Carlarius parkii Günther, 1864 .

Habitat and distribution: Fresh and brackish waters, western Africa ( Fig. 20 ).

Remarks

The total-evidence analysis corroborates the monophyly and species composition of Carlarius as uncovered previously by morphological and molecular studies ( Marceniuk and Menezes 2007, Betancur-R. 2009, Marceniuk et al. 2012), but without consensus regarding its relationships in the MP, BI, and ML analyses.

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 20. Representative skulls, in dorsal view, and distribution of the Ariini incertae sedis. A, Carlarius heudelotii, MNHN B-0689.B, Netuma bilineata, AUM 47559.C, Plicofollis argyropleuron, AUM 44750. * marine, ** brackish water, *** freshwater.

Figure 21. Carlarius heudelotii, MNHN B-0689, western-central Africa, type species of the genus.