PBDB Taxon

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Lepisosteus

Osteichthyes - Lepisosteiformes - Lepisosteidae

Taxonomy

Lepisosteus was named by Agassiz (1843) [Sepkoski's age data: K u R]. It is extant. It is the type genus of Lepisosteidae.

It was assigned to Sauroidei by Owen (1859); to Rhomboganoidei by Leidy (1873); to Lepidosteidae by Leidy (1860), Woodward (1895), Lambe (1908); to Semionotiformes by Sepkoski (2002); to Lepisosteiformes by Weems (1999), Carnevale and Godfrey (2018); and to Lepisosteidae by Hay (1902), Rapp (1946), Estes (1964), Bjork (1967), Estes and Berberian (1970), Estes (1976), Case and Schwimmer (1988), Bryant (1989), Weems (1998), Peng et al. (2001), Purdy et al. (2001), Friedman et al. (2010), Grande (2010), López-Arbarello (2012), Maisch et al. (2016), May (2019).

Species

Clastes lusitanicus, Clastes pustulosus, L. bemisi, L. glaber, L. indicus, L. integer, L. knieskerni, L. nahunticus, L. occidentalis (syn. Lepidotus haydeni), L. osseus, L. platostomus, L. whitneyi

Species lacking formal opinion data

L. cunneatus, L. fimbriatus, L. fittonii, L. platyrhincus, L. platystomus, L. strausi, L. suessionenis, L. suessionensis, L. turanensis

Synonyms

Clastes was named by Cope (1872).

It was synonymized subjectively with Lepisosteus by White and Moy-Thomas (1940).

It was assigned to Ginglymodi by Sauvage (1898).
Pneumatosteus was named by Cope (1869).

It was synonymized subjectively with Lepisosteus by Hay (1902).

Synonymy list

Year	Name and author
1843	Lepisosteus Agassiz p. 176
1859	Lepidosteus Owen p. 126
1860	Lepidosteus Leidy p. 118
1869	Pneumatosteus Cope
1872	Clastes Cope
1873	Lepidosteus Leidy p. 349
1895	Lepidosteus Woodward p. 440
1898	Clastes Sauvage p. 36
1902	Lepisosteus Hay p. 376
1908	Lepidosteus Lambe
1946	Lepisosteus Rapp p. 512
1964	Lepisosteus Estes p. 43
1967	Lepisosteus Bjork p. 229
1970	Lepisosteus Estes and Berberian p. 3
1976	Lepisosteus Estes p. 502
1988	Lepisosteus Case and Schwimmer p. 297
1989	Lepisosteus Bryant p. 22
1998	Lepisosteus Weems p. 148
1999	Lepisosteus Weems p. 54
2001	Lepidosteus Peng et al.
2001	Lepisosteus Purdy et al. p. 161
2002	Lepisosteus Sepkoski
2010	Lepisosteus Friedman et al. p. S33
2010	Lepisosteus Grande
2012	Lepisosteus López-Arbarello
2016	Lepisosteus Maisch et al. p. 7
2018	Lepisosteus Carnevale and Godfrey p. 163
2019	Lepisosteus May

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Rank	Name	Author
kingdom	Animalia	()
—	Bilateria
—	Eubilateria	Ax 1987
—	Deuterostomia
phylum	Chordata	Haeckel 1874
subphylum	Vertebrata
superclass	Gnathostomata
class	Osteichthyes
subclass	Actinopterygii	()

Rank	Name	Author
infraclass	Actinopteri	()
—	Neopterygii	Regan 1923
—	Ginglymodi	(Cope 1871)
order	Lepisosteiformes	Hay 1929
suborder	Lepisosteioidei
superfamily	Lepisosteoidea
family	Lepisosteidae	Cuvier 1825
genus	Lepisosteus

If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.

G. Lepisosteus Agassiz 1843

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†Lepisosteus bemisi Grande 2010

†Lepisosteus glaber Marsh 1871

†Lepisosteus indicus Lydekker 1890

†Lepisosteus integer Cope 1877

†Lepisosteus knieskerni Fowler 1911

†Lepisosteus nahunticus Cope 1869

†Lepisosteus occidentalis Leidy 1856

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Invalid names: Lepidotus haydeni Leidy 1856 [synonym]

Lepisosteus osseus Linnaeus 1758

Lepisosteus platostomus Rafinesque 1820

†Lepisosteus whitneyi Marsh 1871

Invalid names: Clastes Cope 1872 [synonym], Pneumatosteus Cope 1869 [synonym]

Diagnosis

Reference	Diagnosis
L. Grande 2010	Lepisosteus is a genus of lepisosteid gars that differs from other genera of Lepisosteidae in the following combination of characters (A) The dentary symphysis occurs along the medial surface of the anterior right and left dentary with the anterior ends pointing anteriorly (vs. the symphysis occurring between the ends of the right and left dentary in all other gar genera). (B) The fangs on the dermopalatines of adults are lost or highly reduced due to ontogeny, except for L. platostomus (vs. dermopalatines with greatly enlarged fangs in adult individuals of Atractosteus). (C) The gill rakers are small bits of bone bearing small conical teeth (vs. rows of regular, laterally compressed gill rakers of a peculiar shape in Atractosteus, and an unknown gill raker morphology in Cuneatus and Masillosteus). (D) The teeth on the coronoids are sharply pointed as in Atractosteus, but unlike Masillosteus where they are blunt-tipped (styliform). (E) Mandibular length is 41-69% of head length (vs. 35-41% in Cuneatus and 31-39% in Masillosteus). (F) Frontal width to length ratio is 0.12 0.28 (vs. 0.40-0.47 in Cuneatus, 0.38-0.41 in Masillosteus, and 0.22-0.34 in Atractosteus). (G) Suborbital bones number 13-38 (vs. 7-17 in Cuneatus. (H) Lateral line scales number 52-64 (vs. 40-46 in Cuneatus and 42-49 in Masillosteus)

Measurements

No measurements are available

Composition:

phosphaticsubp

Environment:

freshwatero

Locomotion:

actively mobileo

Life habit:

nektonico

Diet:

carnivoreo

Created:

2009-07-20 21:27:01

Modified:

2017-04-17 10:32:18

Source: o = order, subp = subphylum

References: Carroll 1988, Hendy et al. 2009

Age range

Maximum range based only on fossils: base of the Late/Upper Berriasian to the top of the Holocene or 139.10000 to 0.00000 Ma
Minimum age of oldest fossil (stem group age): 132.6 Ma

Collections (412 total)

Time interval	Ma	Country or state	Original ID and collection number
Oldest occurrences
Late/Upper Berriasian - Valanginian	139.1 - 132.6	United Kingdom (England)	L. fittonii (168982)
Late/Upper Aptian - Early/Lower Albian	119.57 - 110.1	USA (Texas)	L. sp. (14375)
Early/Lower Cenomanian	100.5 - 93.9	USA (Utah)	L. sp. (73611 73612)
Late/Upper Turonian	93.9 - 89.8	Germany	L. sp. (228230)
Late/Upper Turonian	93.9 - 89.8	Austria (Styria)	L. sp. (224480)
Middle Turonian - Late/Upper Turonian	93.9 - 89.8	USA (Utah)	L. sp. (14414)
Middle Turonian - Late/Upper Turonian	93.9 - 89.8	Uzbekistan (Navoi)	L. turanensis (58168)
Early/Lower Coniacian	89.8 - 85.7	Austria (Upper Austria)	L. sp. (224482)
Coniacian - Santonian	89.8 - 83.6	USA (Utah)	L. sp. (14393)
Late/Upper Coniacian - Early/Lower Campanian	89.8 - 72.2	USA (Mississippi)	L. sp. (164393)
Late/Upper Santonian	85.7 - 83.6	Canada (Alberta)	L. sp. (48834 71485)
Late/Upper Santonian - Early/Lower Campanian	85.7 - 72.2	USA (Utah)	L. sp. (14409)
Late/Upper Santonian - Middle Campanian	85.7 - 72.2	USA (Georgia)	L. sp. (35289)
Campanian	83.6 - 72.2	USA (Wyoming)	L. sp. (35367)
Campanian	83.6 - 72.2	Mexico (Chihuahua)	L. sp. (170942)
Campanian	83.6 - 72.2	USA (Georgia)	L. sp. (70720)
Early/Lower Campanian	83.6 - 72.2	France (Languedoc-Roussillon)	Lepisosteidae indet. (47782)
Judithian	83.6 - 72.2	USA (Wyoming)	L. sp., L. occidentalis (14458)
Late/Upper Campanian	83.6 - 72.2	Mexico (Coahuila)	L. sp. (59114)
Late/Upper Campanian	83.6 - 72.2	USA (Arizona)	Lepisosteidae indet. (24915) L. sp. (32301)