Atractosteus is a genus of gars in the family Lepisosteidae, with three species. The genus first appeared in the Campanian in the Late Cretaceous.
| Atractosteus | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Alligator gar | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Clade: | Ginglymodi |
| Order: | Lepisosteiformes |
| Family: | Lepisosteidae |
| Tribe: | Lepisosteini |
| Genus: | Atractosteus (Rafinesque, 1820) |
| Type species | |
| Esox spatula Lacépède, 1803 | |
| Species | |
See text | |
| Synonyms[2][3] | |
| |
Systematics
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Species
Extant species
| Image | Scientific name | Common name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
.jpg) | 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 grandei (Brownstein & Lyson, 2022)[4]
- †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)
References
- Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2011). Species of Atractosteus in FishBase. June 2011 version.