C_ Historical Treatment of the Ageneiosidae 



Hi gher Classification of the Family "^ " "^^ '"'' * 



The family Ageneiosidae, as recognized by previous authors, includes six 

 nominal genera; Ageneiosus Lacepdde, Ceratorhynchi Agassiz, Davalla Bleeker, 

 Pseudageneiosus Bleeker, Tetranematichthys Bleeker, and Tympanopleura 

 Eigenmann. The nomenclatural history of the last five genera, and their taxonomic 

 status as interpreted from prior synonymies and the present study, are reviewed 

 below in separate sections. The more complex history oi Ageneiosus is addressed in 

 part in the following section, and in greater detail in the synonymies and comments 

 under the species accounts. ' V 



The supraspecific classification of the Ageneiosidae has undergone 

 considerable historical change because of poorly resolved systematic problems at 

 the family level. These changes have largely reflected differing classification 

 schemes involving ageneiosids and two other closely related families, the 

 Auchenipteridae and Doradidae. Many of the prior classifications were reviewed by 

 Britski (1972) and Ferraris (1988), but are repeated here chronologically because of 

 their relevance to controversy surrounding the currently hypothesized relationships 

 of the Ageneiosidae to other taxa. Hereafter these three families will be collectively 

 referred to as the neotropical superfamily Doradoidea. Excluded from the present 

 discussion is the African family Mochokidae, which may be phylogenetically close to 

 the neotropical doradoids, and is sometimes lumped together in the superfamily 

 (Chardon 1968; J. G. Lundberg, personal communication). 



Among the earliest synoptic classifications that included major groups of 

 siluroids are those of Cuvier and Valenciennes (1840), Bleeker (1862, 1863), 

 Giinther (1864), and Eigenmann and Eigenmann (1890). In their classifications. 



