has been found in the fossil record, and this was in very recent Pleistocene sediments. Sillago campbellensis (Schwarzhans, 1985) Australia, Miocene Sillago hassovicus (Koken, 1891) Poland, Middle Miocene Sillago maculata (Quoy and Gaimard, 1824) New Zealand, Middle Pleistocene Sillago mckayi (Schwarzhans, 1985) Australia, Oligocene Sillago pliocaenica (Stinton, 1952) Australia, Pliocene Sillago recta (Schwarzhans, 1980) New Zealand, Upper Miocene Sillago schwarzhansi (Steurbaut, 1984) France, Lower Miocene Sillago ventriosus (Steurbaut, 1984) France, Upper Oligocene Timeline of genera Phylogeny The relationships of the Sillaginidae are poorly known, with very similar morphological characteristics and a lack of genetic studies restricting the ability to perform cladistic analyses on the family. Being the fossil sillaginids are based on the comparison of fossil otoliths, with no other type of remains found thus far, this also prevents the reconstruction of the evolution of the family through fossil species. While the position of the Sillaginidae in the order Perciformes is firmly established due to a number of synapomorphies shared with other members of the order, no sister group has been established for the family. The current taxonomic status of the family is thought to represent a basic picture of the group's phylogeny, with McKay further dividing the genus Sillago into three subgenera based on shared morphological characters of the swimbladder. The genera Sillaginodes and Sillaginopsis have the most plesiomorphic characteristics; being monotypic, and distinct from Sillago. Sillago is further divided into three subgenera based primarily on swim bladder morphology; Sillago, Parasillago and Sillaginopodys, which also represent evolutionary relationships. Whilst genetic studies have not been done on the family, they have been used to establish the relationship of what were thought to be various subspecies of school whiting, S. bassensis and S. flindersi. Furthermore, morphological data suggests a number of Australian species diverged very recently during the last glacial maximum, which caused land bridges to isolate populations of fish. The two aforementioned species of school whiting, S. maculata and S. burrus, and S. ciliata and S. analis are all thought to be products of such a process, although only the school whiting have anything other than similar morphology as evidence of this process. Morphology The Sillaginidae are medium-sized fishes which grow to an average of around 20 cm and around 100 g, although the largest member of the family, the King George whiting is known to reach 72 cm and 4.8 kg in weight. The body shape and fin placement