Cetopsidae
| Whale catfishes | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Helogenes marmoratus | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Siluriformes |
| Family: |
Cetopsidae Bleeker, 1858 |
| Genera | |
|
Subfamily Cetopsinae |
|
Subfamily Cetopsinae
Cetopsidium
Cetopsis
Denticetopsis
Paracetopsis
Subfamily Helogeneinae
Helogenes
The Cetopsidae are a small family of catfishes (order Siluriformes), commonly called the whale catfishes.
This family contains five genera divided into two subfamilies, Cetopsinae and Helogeneinae. Helogeneinae was previously a family-level group, but now it has been reclassified as a subfamily of Cetopsidae. This subfamily contains four species in the genus Helogenes. The subfamily Cetopsinae contains four genera. Cetopsidium contains six species, Cetopsis contains 21 species, Denticetopsis contains seven species, and Paracetopsis contains three species; this makes a total of 37 cetopsines. The genera have been changed as recenetly as 2005 with the genera Bathycetopsis, Hemicetopsis, and Pseudocetopsis set in synonymy with Cetopsis and the description of the new genus Cetopsidium.
Cetopsidium is the sister group to the rest of Cetopsinae. Denticetopsis forms the next sister group to the remaining cetopsine genera. The tribes Cetopsidiini, Denticetopsini, and Cetopsini are erected for the cetopsine genera.
Cetopsids have a wide distribution in South America. Latitudinally, cetopsines extend from northern Colombia to central Argentina. They inhabit major habitats such as the Orinoco River, Amazon River, and the Guyanas. In trans-Andean South America, cetopsines are found along the Pacific slope from the Jurubidá River of Colombia south to the Tumbes River of northern Peru. Along the Caribbean trans-Andean versant, species of cetopsines occur from the Sinú River of northwestern Colombia east to the Lake Maracaibo basin of northwestern Venezuela. East of the Andean Cordilleras, the Cetopsinae occur in the Aroa and Yaracuy River basins along the Caribbean versant of northern Venezuela, through the Orinoco River system and the coastal rivers of the Guianas, south through the Amazon basin to the southern portions of the Río de la Plata basin. Cetopsines also occur in the Juquiá River basin of the state of São Paulo and the São Francisco River basin of eastern Brazil.Helogenes, the single genus of Helogeneinae, occurs through much of the Amazon basin, the southern portions of the Orinoco River basin, the coastal rivers of the Guianas, and at least the lower portions of the .
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Wikipedia