Atractosteus
Genus of fishes
Atractosteus (from Greek atraktos (ἀτρακτὀς), 'spindle' and osteon (ὀστέον), 'bone') is a genus of gars in the family Lepisosteidae, with three extant species. It is one of two surviving gar genera alongside Lepisosteus.
The three surviving species are all widely separated from one another, with A. spatula being found in the south-central United States, A. tropicus in southern Mexico and Central America, and A. tristoechus in Cuba. Although generally inhabiting fresh water, they are tolerant of marine conditions.
01Evolution
The genus first appeared during the Santonian stage of the Late Cretaceous, having diverged from Lepisosteus earlier in the Cretaceous. It quickly achieved a widespread distribution throughout the rest of the Cretaceous, being known from North America, South America and Europe. Atractosteus survived the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event, with one articulated fossil of the species A. grandei being recovered from strata dated to just a few thousand years after the extinction event, making it the oldest known articulated vertebrate fossil from the Cenozoic. It was found throughout North America and Europe during the Paleogene, but by the Neogene this had shrunk to only certain parts of North America, where it is still found today.
02Systematics
Species
Extant species
| Image | Scientific name | Common name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atractosteus spatula Lacépède, 1803 | Alligator gar | Southern United States | |
| Atractosteus tristoechus Bloch & J. G. Schneider, 1801 | Cuban gar | Western Cuba and the Isla de la Juventud | |
| Atractosteus tropicus T. N. Gill, 1863 | Tropical gar | Southern Mexico to Costa Rica |
Fossil species
The following fossil species are known:
- †Atractosteus atrox (Leidy, 1873)
- †Atractosteus grandei Brownstein & Lyson, 2022
- †Atractosteus messelensis Grande 2010
- †Atractosteus simplex (Leidy 1873)
- †Atractosteus turanensis Nessov & Panteleeva, 1999
Former fossil species:
- †Atractosteus cuneatus (Cope 1884) non (Cope 1878) (now in Cuneatus)
- †Atractosteus falipoui (Cavin & Brito 2001) (now in Oniichthys)
Dubious fossil species
- †"Atractosteus" africanus (Arambourg & Joleaud, 1943) (nomen dubium, placement in Atractosteus disputed, often placed in the dubious genus Paralepisosteus)
- †"Atractosteus" emmonsi Hay 1929 (Miocene of North Carolina, nomen dubium)
- †"Atractosteus" lapidosus Hay 1919 (Pleistocene of Florida, nomen dubium)
- †Atractosteus occidentalis (Leidy 1856) non Wiley 1976 (Campanian of Montana, nomen dubium)
The extinct nomen dubium fossil species A. strausi (Kinkelin, 1884) is based on a single Miocene-aged gar scale from Germany, and has often been used as the species for the Atractosteus gars from the older Messel Formation. Although this scale provides evidence for gars surviving in Europe as late as the Miocene, it is not diagnostic enough to be considered a member of Atractosteus, nor can the Messel gars (now placed in A. messelensis) be confidently placed in it.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Atractosteus”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Alligator Gar 10.JPG by Greg Hume, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Atractosteus atrox 3.jpg by James St. John, CC BY 2.0
- Atractosteus strausi.jpg by Ghedoghedo, CC BY-SA 3.0
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