Wallago Bleeker, 1851 and Wallagonia Myers, 1938 (Ostariophysi, Siluridae), Distinct Genera of Tropical Asian Catfishes, with De
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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 Author(s): Tyson R. Roberts Source: Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History, 55(1):35-47. 2014. Published By: Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3374/014.055.0103 URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.3374/014.055.0103 BioOne (www.bioone.org) is a nonprofit, online aggregation of core research in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences. BioOne provides a sustainable online platform for over 170 journals and books published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses. Your use of this PDF, the BioOne Web site, and all posted and associated content indicates your acceptance of BioOne’s Terms of Use, available at www.bioone.org/page/terms_of_use. Usage of BioOne content is strictly limited to personal, educational, and non-commercial use. Commercial inquiries or rights and permissions requests should be directed to the individual publisher as copyright holder. BioOne sees sustainable scholarly publishing as an inherently collaborative enterprise connecting authors, nonprofit publishers, academic institutions, research libraries, and research funders in the common goal of maximizing access to critical research. 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 Tyson R. Roberts Institute of Molecular Biosciences, Mahidol University, Salaya Campus, Nakon Phatom, Thailand; and Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama —email: [email protected] ABSTRACT The Southeast Asian silurid catfish genus Wallagonia Myers, 1938, although regarded as a junior synonym of Wallago Bleeker, 1851 by recent authors following Myers (1948), differs fundamentally from it in many external and osteological characters. The genera evidently have been distinct since at least the middle Miocene and apparently are not closely related to each other. Wallagonia seems most similar to the silurid genus Ompok. Wallago differs most strikingly from all other silurids in having a much longer gape, extending ventroposteriorly well beyond the eyes. The extremely elon- gate upper jaw has a unique bony composition and suspension. It consists of three bones: the toothed premaxillary bone anteriorly, and the toothless suborbital and first postorbital bones pos- teriorly. The premaxillary bone is partially suspended from the cranium by the infraorbital bone. The closest relatives of Wallago have not been identified. Wallagonia and Wallago have no previ- ously reported fossil records. Fossils of the family Siluridae have been identified as representatives of the Eurasian temperate genus Silurus (Kobayakawa, 1989). Here an extinct species of Wallago is described, W. maemohensis, on the basis of a complete cranium with attached, fully toothed left pre- maxillary in an unusually fine state of preservation from a Miocene deposit near Lampang in north- ern Thailand. Fossil catfishes previously reported from Thailand belong to the families Bagridae and Pangasiidae and are from Pliocene deposits (Roberts and Junmongthai 1999). KEYWORDS Catfishes, Siluridae, Wallago attu, Wallagonia leerii, Wallago maemohensis, Miocene, Thailand Introduction Silurus attu Bloch and Schneider, 1801: type local- ity Malabar, India Siluridae is an exclusively Eurasian family of pri- Silurus boalis Hamilton, 1822: type locality mary freshwater catfishes. About 15 genera and Ganges 100 living species are recognized. Some of these Silurus wallagoo Valenciennes in Cuvier and Valen- are giants among the catfishes, attaining 1, 2, 3 or ciennes, 1840: type localities Coromandel, Cal- reportedly up to 5 m in length, and weights of as cutta, and Vizagapatam, India; Myanmar much as 300 kg. The greatest taxonomic diversity Silurus muelleri Bleeker, 1846: type locality occurs in tropical Asia, including the Chao Jakarta, Indonesia Phraya and Mekong basins, Malay Peninsula, Wallago leerii Bleeker, 1851: type localities Sam- Sumatra and Borneo. The few fossil silurids bas, western Borneo; Palembang, southern reported until now, from Europe and Japan, seem Sumatra, Indonesia to be congeners of the temperate genus Silurus. Wallago russellii Bleeker, 1853: type localities Cal- The silurid genus Wallago Bleeker, 1851, as cutta, India; Jakarta, Indonesia recognized up to now, comprises the following Wallago nebulosus Vaillant, 1902: type locality nominal taxa, all living (Eschmeyer [2014]): Tepoe, Mahakam River, Borneo Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History 55(1):35–47, April 2014. © 2014 Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University. All rights reserved. • http://peabody.yale.edu 36 Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History 55(1) • April 2014 Wallagonia tweediei Hora and Misra, 1941: type species of Wallagonia. Wallagonia is based there- locality Kuala Tahan, Pahang, Malaysia fore on Wallago leerii, a species fundamentally Wallago attu valeya Deraniyagala: type locality different in morphology and osteology from Wal- Yakvala, Sri Lanka lago attu, as documented below. Wallago maculatus Inger and Chin, 1959: type locality Kinabatangan River at Deramakot Materials and Methods Forest Reserve, Sabah, Malaysia Wallago micropogon Ng, 2004: type locality Stung This study is based mainly on dried skeletal Treng, Cambodia (Mekong basin) preparations of medium-sized to large specimens of Wallago and Wallagonia and other silurids that Silurus muelleri is the type species of the I collected, prepared and deposited in the fish col- genus Wallago (Kottelat 2013:239). Wallago lection of the Thailand Natural History Museum muelleri has been regarded consistently as a jun- of the National Science Museum in Pathumtani ior synonym of W. attu, but this has not been (THNHM-F). Specimen data are as follows: substantiated by direct comparison of specimens from their respective type localities in India and Wallago attu: Cambodia, Kampong Thom, 1–6 Java. Specimens identified as W. attu from India September 2000, 5 specimens (THNHM-F- and Thailand differ in osteological details. Mate- 01545); Thailand, Pathumtani market, 21 rial identifiable as W. muelleri, which might also March 1999, 960 mm (THNHM-F-01546). be osteologically distinctive, has not been avail- Wallagonia leerii: Sumatra, Palembang market, able for this study. 12 April 1999, 560 mm (THNHM-F-01547). Silurus boalis, S. wallagoo, Wallago russellii Wallagonia leerii (or W. micropogon): Mekong and W. attu valeya also are currently regarded as at Ban Wern Buk, northeast Thailand, 21 junior synonyms of W. attu. April 2000, 495 mm (THNHM-F-01548); Wallago leerii, recognized as a valid species northeast Thailand, July 2001, cranial length since its description, is the type species by original 100 mm (THNHM-F-01549). designation of the nominal genus Wallagonia Belodontichthys dinema: Sumatra, Musi basin, Myers, 1938. Wallagonia was placed by Myers Hulu Rawas (Lubuk Linggau market), 28 (1948) and nearly all subsequent authors as a jun- April 1999, 505 mm (THNHM-F-01549). ior synonym of Wallago, but it is here recognized Belodontichthys truncatus: Cambodia, Kratie, var- as a distinct genus. Wallago nebulosus and Wal- ious dates, 5 complete skeletons, 3 with disar- lagonia tweediei are currently recognized as syn- ticulated skulls (THNHM-F-01550). onyms of Wallago leerii. It is doubtful that Micronema sp.: Thailand, Pathumtani market, 21 Wallago maculatus and Wallago micropogon are March 1999, 550 mm (THNHM-F-01551). distinct species; they are distinguished largely on Silurus glanis: Austria, Vienna market, Septem- the basis of coloration and presumably do not dif- ber 2001, 3 specimens, skulls, Weberian appa- fer greatly in osteology. ratus and pectoral girdle (THNHM-F-01552). In proposing his new genus Wallagonia as Silurus sp.: Vietnam, Tuyen Quanh market, 1999, distinct from Wallago, Myers (1938) was dealing 407 mm (THNHM-F-01553). only with a seemingly simple problem of nomen- clatural priority. Consequently, he did not pro- In addition to direct observation of the oste- vide characters to distinguish Wallagonia from ological material listed above, I have relied mainly Wallago. Ten years later, after discovering that his on the well-illustrated account of the cranial oste- information on the date of original publication of ology of Indian Wallago attu by Joseph (1960). the name Wallago had been incorrect, he declared Other works consulted for osteological informa- that Wallagonia Myers, 1938 was a junior syn- tion are Bornbusch (1991, 1995); Sinha (1959, onym of Wallago (Myers 1948). As he stated in 1962) and Tilak (1961). The fossilized cranium 1948, however, material of Wallago attu was with one complete premaxillary bone attached to unavailable to him in 1938, and he had examined it, here described as Wallago maemohensis, was only Wallago leerii. For this reason Wallago leerii collected by me at Mae Moh coal mine in north- rather than Wallago attu was selected as the type ern Thailand in 1998. Wallago and Wallagonia (Ostariophysi, Siluridae) • Roberts 37 Character Distinctions and fully toothed upper premaxilla of Wallago I recently collected from a Miocene deposit in The two genera Wallago and Wallagonia are dis- northern Thailand is described below as Wallago tinguished by the following characters (modified maemohensis.