Editing Catfish (section)

===Evolution===
Catfish are believed to have a [[Gondwana]]n origin primarily centered around South America, as the most [[Basal (phylogenetics)|basal]] living catfish groups are known from there. The earliest known definitive members lived in the [[Americas]] from the [[Campanian]] to [[Maastrichtian]] stages of the [[Late Cretaceous]], including the [[Andinichthyidae]], ''[[Vorhisia vulpes]]'' and possibly ''[[Arius (fish)|Arius]]''.<ref name=NT24/><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Stringer |first1=Gary |last2=Schwarzhans |first2=Werner |date=2021-09-01 |title=Upper Cretaceous teleostean otoliths from the Severn Formation (Maastrichtian) of Maryland, USA, with an unusual occurrence of Siluriformes and Beryciformes and the oldest Atlantic coast Gadiformes |journal=Cretaceous Research |volume=125 |pages=104867 |doi=10.1016/j.cretres.2021.104867 |issn=0195-6671|doi-access=free |bibcode=2021CrRes.12504867S }}</ref><ref name=Cavin2017/> A potential fossil record is known from the earlier [[Coniacian]]-[[Santonian]] stages in [[Niger]] of [[West Africa]],<ref name=Patterson1993>{{cite book|author=Patterson, C.|year=1993|chapter=Osteichthyes: Teleostei|editor=Benton, M.J.|title=The Fossil Record 2|pages=621–656|publisher=[[Chapman & Hall]]|location=London}}</ref> though this has been considered unreliable,<ref name=Cavin2017>{{Citation |last=Cavin |first=Lionel |title=Evolutionary Histories of Freshwater Fishes |date=2017 |work=Freshwater Fishes: 250 Million Years of Evolutionary History |pages=53–125 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/b978-1-78548-138-3.50004-2 |access-date=2024-05-08 |publisher=Elsevier |doi=10.1016/b978-1-78548-138-3.50004-2 |isbn=978-1-78548-138-3}}</ref> and the putative earliest [[Loricariidae|armored catfish]] known from the fossil record, ''[[Afrocascudo]]'', lived during the [[Cenomanian]] age of the [[Late Cretaceous]] in [[Morocco]] of [[North Africa]] ([[Kem Kem Group]]).<ref name="Afrocascudo" /> The describers of ''Afrocascudo'' claimed that the presence of a derived loricariid so early on would indicate the extensive diversification of catfish, or at least loricarioids, prior to the beginning of the Late Cretaceous. As extant loricariids are only known from South America, much of this diversification must have occurred on the supercontinent of [[Gondwana|West Gondwana]] prior to its fragmentation into South America and Africa.<ref name="Afrocascudo" /> Britz and colleagues suggested that ''Afrocascudo'' instead represents a juvenile [[Obaichthyidae|obaichthyid]] [[Lepisosteiformes|lepisosteiform]], possibly a junior synonym of ''[[Obaichthys]]''.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Britz, R.|author2=Pinion, Amanda K.|author3=Kubicek, Kole M.|author4=Conway, Kevin W.|year=2024|title=Comment on "A Saharan fossil and the dawn of Neotropical armoured catfishes in Gondwana" by Brito et al|journal=Gondwana Research|volume=133 |pages=267–269 |doi=10.1016/j.gr.2024.06.014|bibcode=2024GondR.133..267B }}</ref> The authors of the original study still stood by their original conclusion based on the absence of important [[Holostei|holostean]] characters, and noted that it could not be a juvenile, since the bones were completely ossified.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Brito |first1=Paulo M. |last2=Dutheil |first2=Didier B. |last3=Keith |first3=Philippe |last4=Carnevale |first4=Giorgio |last5=Meunier |first5=François J. |last6=Khalloufi |first6=Bouziane |last7=Gueriau |first7=Pierre |year=2024|title=A reply to a comment on Brito et al., 2024, A Saharan fossil and the dawn of the Neotropical armoured catfishes in Gondwana by Britz, Pinion, Kubicek and Conway|journal=Gondwana Research|doi=10.1016/j.gr.2024.06.013}}</ref>

==== Fossil taxa ====
* Order '''Siluriformes'''
** Family †[[Andinichthyidae]] (Late Cretaceous to Paleogene of South America)<ref>{{Cite journal |author1=Sergio Bogan |author2=Federico L. Agnolin |author3=Agustín Scanferla |year=2018 |title=A new Andinichthyidae catfish (Ostariophysi, Siluriformes) from the Paleogene of northwestern Argentina |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |volume=38 |issue=3 |pages=e1449117 |bibcode=2018JVPal..38E9117B |doi=10.1080/02724634.2018.1449117 |s2cid=89841371 |hdl-access=free |hdl=11336/91672}}</ref>
** Suborder [[Diplomystoidei]]
*** Family †[[Bachmanniidae]] (Eocene of Argentina)<ref name=":02">{{Cite journal |last1=Azpelicueta |first1=María De Las Mercedes |last2=Cione |first2=Alberto Luis |date=2011-03-17 |title=Redescription of the Eocene catfish Bachmannia chubutensis (Teleostei: Bachmanniidae) of southern South America |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02724634.2011.550351 |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |language=en |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=258–269 |bibcode=2011JVPal..31..258A |doi=10.1080/02724634.2011.550351 |issn=0272-4634}}</ref>
** Suborder [[Siluroidei]]
*** Family †[[Astephidae]] (Paleocene to Oligocene of North America)<ref name=":03">{{Cite journal |last1=Grande |first1=Lance |last2=and Lundberg |first2=John G. |date=1988-06-22 |title=Revision and redescription of the genus Astephus (Siluriformes: Ictaluridae) with a discussion of its phylogenetic relationships |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02724634.1988.10011694 |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=139–171 |doi=10.1080/02724634.1988.10011694 |bibcode=1988JVPal...8..139G |issn=0272-4634}}</ref>
*** Family †[[Hypsidoridae]] (Eocene of North America)<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lundberg |first1=John G. |last2=Case |first2=Gerard R. |date=1970 |title=A New Catfish from the Eocene Green River Formation, Wyoming |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1302580 |journal=Journal of Paleontology |volume=44 |issue=3 |page=452 |issn=0022-3360 |jstor=1302580}}</ref>