Redescription and Reclassification of the Silurid Catfish Apodoglanis furnessi Fowler (Siluriformes: Siluridae), with Diagnoses of Three Intrafamilial Silurid Subgroups

A review of the catfish genus Pterocryptis (Siluridae) in Vietnam, with the description of two new species

“…Although all Pterocryptis have confluent anal and caudal fins (Bornbusch, 1991), they appear to be superficially disjunct because of the deep notch between the two fins. This is less apparent in P. crenula, where the fins are separated by a shallower notch and their confluence is more readily visible (Fig.…”

“…The genus was recently removed from synonymy with Silurus Linnaeus, 1758, by Bornbusch (1991), and the taxonomy of many of its species has not been fully resolved. There are currently 14 nominal species of Pterocryptis, of which only P. cochinchinensis (Valenciennes, in Cuvier & Valenciennes, 1839) and P. cucphuongensis (Mai, 1978) have been reported from Vietnam (Mai, 1978).…”

“…However, the degree of fusion of the anal and caudal fins in Silurichthys is considered more apomorphic in that the fins are united, but not separated by a distinct notch (Bornbusch, 1991). In this regard, the degree of fin fusion seen in P. crenula approaches that of Silurichthys in having a reduced notch between the fins.…”

“…This phenomenon has also been reported for other silurid genera, most notably in Ompok by Parameswaran et al (1971), Silurus by Atoda (1935) and Xie (1989), and Wallago by Majumdar (1951). Even when both forms are seen in specimens of the same species and size, such cases of variation are rare (Chen, 1977;Bornbusch, 1991) and the number of mandibular barbels seems to be a character that can be used with some degree of confidence to diagnose species of Pterocryptis.…”

Redescription of siluroid Catfish Pterocryptis barakensis Vishwanath & Nebeshwar (Siluriformes: Siluridae)

“…Fishes of the genus Pterocryptis Peters are distinguished from other siluroids in having small dorsal fin, upper jaw longer than the lower jaw, and a confluent anal and caudal fin with a distinct notch between them (Bornbusch 1991). The species distributed in the Indian region are: P. gangelicus (Peters) of the Ganges; P. afghana (Gunther) of Afghanistan, type locality of which is doubtful (Day 1878;Shaw & Shebbeare 1937;Menon 1999); P. indicus (Datta, Barman & Jayaram) of Brahmaputra basin; P. wynaadensis (Day) of Western Ghats in Kerala, Cauvery and Tungabhadra river basins.…”