I now realize there’s an easier way to do this:
<?php if (is_category( )) {
$thiscat = get_category( get_query_var( 'cat' ) );
$catid = $thiscat->cat_ID;
$parent = $thiscat->category_parent;
if (!empty ($parent) ) {
//child category pages
$catlist = get_categories(
array(
'child_of' => $parent,
'orderby' => 'id',
'order' => 'DESC',
'exclude' => $catid,
'hide_empty' => '0'
) );
}
} ?>