Pseudosciades, Marceniuk & Oliveira & Ferraris Jr, 2024

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 : 462

Pseudosciades gen. nov.

( Figs 1–3 , 24G , 37 )

ZooBank registration: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:0A403C08-B65C-4292-B708-2B7E1AC9456D .

Type species: Arius sona Hamilton, 1822 . Diagnosis

Posterior branches of mesethmoid moderately long, delimiting between one-fourth and one-half of anterior cranial fontanel length (8, 0> 1); epioccipital dorsally visible (41, 0> 1); margin of parieto-supraoccipital process contacting nuchal plate convex (47, 0> 1); lateral margins of orbitosphenoid progressively diverging anteriorly (63, 0> 1); lateral and mesial portions of premaxilla of different sizes (121, 0> 1); anteroventral portion of opercle subtrapezoidal, very long (127, 1> 0); metapterygoid anterior process truncate (138, 0> 1); posterior end of urohyal truncated (158, 0> 2); posterolateral processes of urohyal posteriorly oriented, forming an angle smaller than 60° (161, 0> 1); Müllerian ramus distal one-third markedly curved (208, 1> 2); nuchal plate anterior margin slightly concave (219, 0> 1).

Ambiguous optimization: Posterior cranial fontanel formed exclusively within frontals (25, 0> 1).

Etymology

Pseudo from Latin, meaning false, in reference to its convergent morphology with the Neotropical genus Sciades . Gender: masculine.

Included species

Pseudosciades sona (Hamilton, 1822) .

Habitat and distribution: Brackish and marine waters, South and Southeast Asia ( Fig. 24 ).

Remarks

Pseudosciades sona is an Old World species that shares with Sciades parkeri (type species of the New World genus Sciades ) a medial groove of neurocranium delimited mainly by frontal bones, anterior and median nuchal plates forming a shield-like structure, and nuchal plate overlapping parietosupraoccipital, but were shown to be not closely related in the total-evidence analysis or in a previous molecular study (Betancur-R. 2009).

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 24. Representative skulls, in dorsal view, and distribution of the subtribe Ariina.A, Arius maculatus, AUM 44875. B, Cephalocassis melanochir, CAS 49426. C, Cryptarius truncatus, AUM 50243. D, Hexanematichthys sagor, AUM 50242. E, Kyataphisa nenga, AUM 46280. F, Osteogeneiosus militaris, AUM 44880. G, Pseudosciades sona, AUM 44861. * marine, ** brackish water, *** freshwater.

Figure 37. Pseudosciades sona, Indo-West Pacific, photograph by Ricardo Betancur-R., type species of the genus.