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Lepisosteidae
| Description | Gars are members of the Lepisosteiformes (or Semionotiformes), an ancient holosteian order of ray-finned fish; fossils from this order are known from the Late Jurassic onwards. The family Lepisosteidae includes seven living species of fish in two genera that inhabit fresh, brackish, and occasionally marine, waters of eastern North America, Central America and the Caribbean islands. Gars have elongated bodies that are heavily armored with ganoid scales, and fronted by similarly elongated jaws filled with long, sharp teeth. Gars are sometimes referred to as "garpike," but are not related to pike, which are in the fish family Esocidae. All of the gars are relatively large fish, but the alligator gar (Atractosteus spatula) is the largest - the alligator gar often grows to a length of over 2 m (6.5 ft) and a weight of over 45 kg (100 lb), and specimens of up to 3 m (9.8 ft) in length have been reported. Unusually, their vascularised swim bladders can function as lungs, and most gars surface periodically to take a gulp of air. Gar flesh is edible and the hard skin and scales of gars are used by humans, but gar eggs are highly toxic. From Wikipedia article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lepisosteidae, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Rank | family | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Taxonomy (GBIF) | Life : Animalia : Chordata : Actinopterygii : Lepisosteiformes : Lepisosteidae | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Taxonomy (PBDB) | Life : Animalia : Chordata : Actinopteri : Lepisosteiformes : Lepisosteidae | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Taxonomic Status (GBIF) | accepted | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Classification (PBDB,GBIF) |
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| Scientific Name | Lepisosteidae | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Opinions (PBDB) |
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| Status (PBDB) | extant | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Taxon Size (PBDB) | 25 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Extant Size (PBDB) | 6 (24%) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First Recorded Appearance | 145 - 133 Ma Early/Lower Cretaceous | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Environment | freshwater (based on Lepisosteiformes) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Motility | actively mobile (based on Lepisosteiformes) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Diet | carnivore (based on Lepisosteiformes) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Taphonomy | phosphatic (based on Vertebrata) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Primary Reference (PBDB) | J. Peng, A. P. Russell, and D. B. Brinkman. 2001. Vertebrate microsite assemblages (exclusive of mammals) from the Foremost and Oldman Formations of the Judith River Group (Campanian) of southeastern Alberta: an illustrated guide. Provincial Museum of Alberta, Natural History Occasional Paper 25:1-54 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Common Name(s) | Gar Pikes, Garfishes, Gars, Lépisostés, Pejelagartos | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wikipedia | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lepisosteidae |
Fossil Distribution
Subtaxa
| Name | Status | Common Name(s) | Fossil Occurrences | Oldest | Youngest |
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| Atractosteus genus | accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB) | 20 | 89.3 Ma Late/Upper Cretaceous | 0 Ma Extant | |
| Lepidosteus genus | listed (PBDB) | 6 | 83.5 Ma Late/Upper Cretaceous | 0 Ma Extant | |
| Lepisosteus genus | accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB) | 384 | 145 Ma Late Jurassic | 0 Ma Extant | |
| Masillosteus ✝ genus | listed (PBDB) | ||||
| Nhanulepisosteus ✝ genus | accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB) | ||||
| Obaichthys genus | accepted (GBIF) | No associated record in PBDB | |||
| Oniichthys ✝ genus | accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB) | 1 | 113 Ma Early/Lower Cretaceous | 113 Ma Early/Lower Cretaceous | |
 Paralepidosteus ✝genus | accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB) | 1 | 101 Ma Late/Upper Cretaceous | 101 Ma Late/Upper Cretaceous | |
Synonymy List
| Year | Name and Author |
|---|---|
| 1825 | Lepisosteidae Cuvier |
| 1861 | Lepisosteidae Huxley p. 23 |
| 1895 | Lepidosteidae Woodward p. 440 |
| 1902 | Lepisosteidae Hay p. 376 |
| 1908 | Lepidosteidae Lambe |
| 1960 | Lepidosteidae Gardiner p. 370 |
| 1963 | Lepisosteidae Jordan p. 615 |
| 1964 | Lepisosteidae Estes p. 43 |
| 1970 | Lepisosteidae Estes and Berberian p. 3 |
| 1981 | Lepisosteidae Thurmond and Jones p. 84 |
| 1988 | Lepisosteidae Case and Schwimmer p. 297 |
| Year | Name and Author |
|---|---|
| 1989 | Lepisosteidae Bryant p. 22 |
| 1991 | Lepisosteidae Normark et al. p. 829 |
| 1993 | Lepisosteidae Cvancara and Hoganson p. 13 |
| 1999 | Lepisosteidae Weems p. 54 |
| 2001 | Lepisosteidae Cavin and Brito p. 662 |
| 2001 | Lepisosteidae Peng et al. p. 14 |
| 2001 | Lepisosteidae Purdy et al. p. 161 |
| 2012 | Lepisosteidae López-Arbarello |
| 2013 | Lepisosteidae Betancur-R. et al. |
| 2018 | Lepisosteidae Carnevale and Godfrey p. 163 |
| 2019 | Lepisosteidae Ebersole et al. p. 154 |
References
Data courtesy of: PBDB: The Paleobiology Database, Creative Commons CC-BY licenced. , GBIF: the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, various licences, iDigBio, various licences, and EOL: The Encyclopedia of Life (Open Data Public Domain). Because fossils are made of minerals too!
Florida, USA