Atractosteus Explained

Atractosteus is a genus of gars in the family Lepisosteidae, with three species. The genus first appeared in the Campanian in the Late Cretaceous.

Systematics

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

Fossils

• †Atractosteus africanus (Arambourg & Joleaud, 1943)^[1]
• †Atractosteus atrox (Leidy, 1873)
• †Atractosteus grandei (Brownstein & Lyson, 2022)^[2]
• †Atractosteus emmonsi Hay 1929
• †Atractosteus lapidosus Hay 1919
• †Atractosteus messelensis Grande 2010
• †Atractosteus occidentalis (Leidy 1856) non Wiley 1976
• †Atractosteus simplex (Leidy 1873)

Former fossil genera:

• †Atractosteus cuneatus (Cope 1884) non (Cope 1878) (now in Cuneatus)
• †Atractosteus falipoui (Cavin & Brito 2001) (now in Oniichthys)

Notes and References

1. Occurrence of Atractosteus africanus (actinopterygii, lepisosteidae) in the early Campanien of Ventabren (Bouches-du-Rhône, France). Paleobiogeographical implications. Revue de Paléobiologie. Cavin. Lionel. Martin. Michel. Valentin. Xavier. 15. 1. 1–7. 1996.
2. Brownstein . Chase Doran . Lyson . Tyler R. . Giant gar from directly above the Cretaceous–Palaeogene boundary suggests healthy freshwater ecosystems existed within thousands of years of the asteroid impact . Biology Letters . 2022 . 18 . 6 . 20220118 . 10.1098/rsbl.2022.0118 . 9198771 . 35702983.