[2] These Amiiformes are found in the freshwater systems of North America, in the United States and parts of southern Canada.

The order first appeared in the Triassic, and the extinct members include both marine and freshwater species, many of which are morphologically disparate from bowfins, such as the caturids.

Amiiformes is therefore the last surviving order of Halecomorphi, the clade to which the bowfin and its fossil relatives belong.

Teleostei Ginglymodi (gars, alligator gars, and their fossil relatives) †Parasemionotiformes †Panxianichthyiformes †Ionoscopiformes Amiiformes (bowfins and their fossil relatives) Possible specimens of caturoids are known from the Late Triassic, with the earliest unambiguous members being known from the Early Jurassic.

[4] Amiiformes had spread to North America and Africa by the end of the Middle Jurassic, reaching an apex of diversity during the Early Cretaceous, during the Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic, the group declined until only a single genus, Amia, containing the bowfin remained.