Siluridae is the nominate family of catfishes in the order Siluriformes. About 105 living species of silurids are placed in 12 or 14 genera.

Although silurids occur across much of Europe and Asia, they are most diverse in Southeast Asia, beyond which their diversity decreases in temperate East Asia, the Indian subcontinent, Southwest Asia, and Europe. Silurids are apparently absent from much of central Asia. The family can be divided into two groups, a temperate North Eurasian clade and a more diverse subtropical/tropical South and Southeast Asian clade.

The oldest fossils of the group are indeterminate remains from the Middle Miocene-aged Sanuki Group of Japan.

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