Copionodontinae [SEP] parent taxon
Copionodontinae
The Copionodontinae are a subfamily of catfishes (order Siluriformes) of the family Trichomycteridae. It includes two genera, "Copionodon" and "Glaphyropoma".
Classification.
Copionodontines are remarkably primitive in body form, and lack many of the synapomorphies previously used to diagnose the family Trichomycteridae. Little doubt exists that the Copionodontinae form a monophyletic group, diagnosed by several unambiguous synapomorphies, including a unique dentition composed of spatulate teeth not seen anywhere else in the Trichomycteridae. A few characters also support the genera "Copionodon"
Taxon in disguise
In bacteriology, a taxon in disguise is a species, genus or higher unit of biological classification whose evolutionary history reveals has evolved from another unit of similar or lower rank, making the parent unit paraphyletic. This happens when rapid evolution makes a new species appear radically different from the ancestral group, so that it is not (initially) recognised as belonging to the parent phylogenetic group, leaving the latter an evolutionary grade.
While the term is from bacteriology, parallel examples are found throughout the tree of