Superregnum : Eukaryota
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Cladus: Craniata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Megaclassis: Osteichthyes
Superclassis/Classis: Actinopterygii
Classis/Subclassis: Actinopteri
Subclassis/Infraclassis: Neopterygii
Infraclassis: Teleostei
Megacohors: Osteoglossocephalai
Supercohors: Clupeocephala
Cohors: Otomorpha
Subcohors: Ostariophysi
Sectio: Otophysa
Ordo: Siluriformes
Familia: Siluridae
Genus: Wallago
Species: W. attu – W. leerii – W. maculatus – †W. maemohensis – W. micropogon
Name
Wallago Bleeker, 1851
References
Primary references
Additional references
Carl J. Ferraris, Jr., 2007, Zootaxa 1418: 1–628 [1]
Vernacular names
Bahasa Indonesia: Tapah
ไทย: ปลาเค้า, ปลาค้าว
中文: 利氏叉尾鯰
Wallago is a genus of catfishes order Siluriformes of the family Siluridae, or sheatfish. They are found in rivers throughout southern and southeastern Asia.[1] The only extant species of this genus is Wallago attu.
Taxonomy
The monophyly of this genus is ambiguous and it is not diagnosed by any synapomorphies.[1][2]
Species
There are currently 2 recognized species in this genus, of which only one is recent:
Wallago attu (Bloch & J. G. Schneider, 1801) (Wallago)
† Wallago maemohensis (Roberts, 2014) (extinct since the Miocene)
For a long time, the Wallago genus was thought to include more species, namely Wallagonia leerii (helicopter catfish), Wallagonia maculatus and Wallagonia micropogon. However, a close investigation by Tyson R. Roberts of their osteological features yielded that all these species actually belong to two entirely separate genera of catfishes, and subsequently all species other than Wallago attu and the extinct Wallago maemohensis were re-categorized into the genus Wallagonia. Additionally, it was found that Wallago and Wallagonia are not particularly closely related within the family of Siluridae.[3]
Wallago hexanema is currently considered a species inquirenda.[4]
Description
The wallago species are large, predatory catfishes.[1] They have five rays in their dorsal fin. The caudal fin is deeply forked and has pointed lobes; it is disconnected from the anal fin, which differs from some of the other silurid genera.[1]
References
Ng, H.H. (2004). "Wallago micropogon: A New Species of Silurid Catfish (Teleostei: Siluridae) from Mainland Southeast Asia". Copeia. 2004 (1): 92–97. doi:10.1643/ci-02-192r3.
Roberts, T.R. (1982). "Systematics and Geographical Distribution of the Asian Silurid Catfish Genus Wallago, with a Key to the Species". Copeia. 1982 (4): 890–894. doi:10.2307/1444099.
Roberts, T.R. (2014): Wallago Bleeker, 1851 and Wallagonia Myers, 1938 (Ostariophysi, Siluridae), Distinct Genera of Tropical Asian Catfishes, with Description of †Wallago maemohensis from the Miocene of Thailand. Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History, 55 (1): 35-47. doi:10.3374/014.055.0103
Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2014). "Wallago hexanema" in FishBase. July 2014 version.
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