Headwater Catfish
Ictalurus lupus (Girard, 1858)
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Promptly released to original habitat.
Cmoore7953 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
Ictalurus lupus (the bagre lobo or headwater catfish) is a species of catfish in the family Ictaluridae. It resembles the closely related channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus), but is smaller, lacks spots, and has a caudal fin with a shallower fork, and grows to a total length of 48 cm (19 in). It is found in Northeastern Mexico and the Southwestern United States.
Wikipedia contributors, Ictalurus lupus; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T06:39:55.569125+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Ictalurus lupus (Girard, 1858)
- Name authority
- (Girard, 1858)
- Common name
- Headwater Catfish
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Siluriformes
- Family
- Ictaluridae
- Genus
- Ictalurus
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: no · Freshwater: yes · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderSiluriformes
- familyIctaluridae Gill, 1861
- genusIctalurus Rafinesque, 1820
- speciesIctalurus lupus (Girard, 1858)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Ictalurus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| blue catfishIctalurus furcatus (Valenciennes, 1840) | IctaluridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Río Verde CatfishIctalurus mexicanus (Meek, 1904) | IctaluridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Yaqui CatfishIctalurus pricei (Rutter, 1896) | IctaluridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Ictalurus nazas Avila-Treviño, Cardoza-Martínez, Alonzo-Rojo & Pérez-Rodríguez, 2025 | IctaluridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Ictalurus australis (Meek, 1904) | IctaluridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Balsas CatfishIctalurus balsanus (Jordan & Snyder, 1899) | IctaluridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Ictalurus meridionalis (Günther, 1864) | IctaluridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Chapala CatfishIctalurus ochoterenai (de Buen, 1946) | IctaluridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| channel catfishIctalurus punctatus (Rafinesque, 1818) | IctaluridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Pimelodus lupus Girard, 1858 Girard, 1858 | synonym |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1021349 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:3PB7W. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.