The Prehistoric Park Animal Field Guide Volume 1

by WildExpert24

As a Prehistoric Park employee, you get the privilege to work with the likes of previously extinct animals. However, if you want to survive longer than five minutes, then you need to have knowledge of its inhabitants. From the world of Cartoon's Prehistoric Park, this Guide will give you info on behavior, diet, lifespan, and more. Welcome to the Ultimate Prehistoric Guidebook.

46. Lepisosteus occidentalis

Lepisosteus occidentalis

Scientific Classification

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Actinopterygii

Order: Lepisosteiformes

Family: Lepisosteidae

Genus: Lepisosteus

Species: Lepisosteus occidentalis

Described by F. V. Hayden, 1956.

Common Names: Western Gar and Hell Creek Gar.

Synonyms:

-Acus Catesby, 1771 non Adams & Adams, 1853 non Chen, Yang & Wilson, 1989 non De Bomare, 1791 non Gray, 1847 non Humphrey, 1797 non Müller, 1766 non Müller, 1774 non Plumier, 1803 non (Swainson, 1839)

-Lepidosteus Koenig, 1825 [Agassiz, 1836; Lacépède, 1803]

-Pneumatosteus Cope, 1869

-Clastichthys Whitley, 1940

-Clastes Cope, 1873 non Walckenaer, 1833

-Cylindrosteus (Rafinesque, 1820)

-Lepisosteus (Cylindrosteus) Rafinesque, 1820

-Psalidostomus Minding, 1832

-Sarchirus Rafinesque, 1818

-Sarcochirus Agassiz, 1846

-Squammosa Catesby, 1771

Additional Species:

Extant Species:

-Spotted gar (Lepisosteus oculatus) Winchell, 1864.

-Longnose gar (Lepisosteus osseus) Linnaeus, 1758.

-Shortnose gar (Lepisosteus platostomus) Rafinesque, 1820.

-Florida gar (Lepisosteus platyrhincus) DeKay, 1842.

Fossil Species:

-Lepisosteus aganus (Cope, 1877).

-Lepisosteus bemisi (Grande, 2010).

-Lepisosteus bohemicus (Laube, 1901).

-Lepisosteus cominatoi (Santos, 1984).

Lepisosteus cycliferus (Cope, 1873).

-Lepisosteus glaber (Marsh, 1871).

-Lepisosteus indicus (Woodward, 1908).

-Lepisosteus integer (Cope, 1877).

-Lepisosteus fimbriatus (Wood, 1846).

-Lepisosteus knieskerni (Fowler, 1911).

-Lepisosteus longus (Lambe, 1908).

-Lepisosteus nahunticus (Cope, 1869).

-Lepisosteus notabilis (Leidy, 1873).

-Lepisosteus occidentalis.

-Lepisosteus opertus (Estes, 1964).

-Lepisosteus strausi (Kinkelin, 1884).

-Lepisosteus suessoniensis (Gervais, 1888).

-Lepisosteus whitneyi (Marsh, 1871).

Note: Three species formerly classified in Lepisosteus (tropical gar, Cuban gar, and alligator gar) are now assigned to the genus Atractosteus.

Current Park Population: (9; all adults; 3 male, 6 female)

Park Diet: Frozen fish like silversides, crickets, shrimp, and small crabs.

Natural Diet: small fish and occasionally insects and small crustaceans;

Lifespan: 40 years

Habitat: Rivers, Streams, Waterways, Lakes, Creeks, Floodplains, Swamps, lagoons, Estuaries, and brackish water near coastal areas.

Native Ecosystem: Western North America, on what was then an island continent known as Laramidia. Hell Creek Formation, Montana, USA, North America, Brazil, South America, and India, Asia, 112-66 Million Years Ago, Early Cretaceous-Present.

Breeding Season: Late April to early July.

Eggs Laid: 30,000 eggs, depending on the weight-to-length ratio of the females

Hatching Time: One to Two Weeks.

Danger Level: 3 out of 10.

Park Star Rating: 2 Stars.

Summary: The Hell Creek Formation of the western United States is understandably known for its dinosaur fossils, including Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops. However, in terms of sheer physical numbers, there are other species found here that surpass them by far. One of these is a prehistoric fish – a gar called Lepisosteus occidentalis, "the Western Gar". Hundreds of fossils of this freshwater fish have been found in the Hell Creek Formation and other geological formations elsewhere in western North America. The gar genus Lepisosteus is extraordinarily long-lived with fossils known from as early as the Jurassic. The hard scales of this primitive fish are some of the most common fossils found in Hell Creek. Like the modern species, Hell Creek Lepisosteus inhabit shallow, slow-moving waters in the floodplain. Being ambush predators, they seek areas with a high abundance of aquatic vegetation which is used for cover". Although the Western Gar is extinct, the gar genus Lepisosteus is still around today, divided into four extant species, and all of them are native exclusively to North America.

History of Discovery: During the 1850s, as the United States expanded westward, a few fossilized fish scales were collected by a certain F. V. Hayden near the Judith River in what was then the Territory of Nebraska. These fossil scales were sent back east to be examined by Joseph Leidy of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, who was regarded as the greatest anatomist and biologist of his time. Professor Leidy believed that the fossils belonged to the fish genus Lepidotes, since this fish was known to have thick scales covered with enamel, and these scales which had been found in Nebraska looked very similar. In 1856, he officially named this particular species Lepidotes occidentalis.

However, over twenty years later in 1877, Edward D. Cope of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences re-examined these fossil fish scales, and he realized that they belonged to a prehistoric gar. In a way, it was an easy mistake to make. Lepidotes and their relatives such as Semionotus were close relatives of gars, despite not looking like them. Like gars, they had rows of interlocking thick diamond-shaped scales. The genus Lepisosteus, meaning "boney scales" about the thick scales which covered the body, had been established in 1803 to refer to modern-day gars. Since this fossil animal was a gar itself, Cope reclassified it as Lepisosteus occidentalis, "the Western Gar". The holotype consists of the original five scales which were found in Nebraska, and they are held in the collections of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University (formerly known as the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences)

Description: They mostly resembled modern-day gars within the Lepisosteus Genus. Females are larger than males in body length, weight, and fin length. They are bronze yellow with black spots, transparent fins, black-barred stripes around the snout, and a white underbelly. They can breathe both air and water, which allows them to inhabit aquatic environments that are low in oxygen.

Traditionally, any fossil gar material which has been found within western North America dating to the end of the Cretaceous Period has been ascribed to the Western Gar, including fossils from the Hell Creek Formation, the Judith River Formation, and the Lance Formation. However, in 1976, Edward Wiley proposed that these fossils did not belong to the genus Lepisosteus, but instead belonged to Atractosteus, which is the genus of the modern-day Alligator Gar (Atractosteus spatula). However, Wiley is very much in the minority, as most sources that I have looked at still classify it as a species of Lepisosteus.

While the Hell Creek Formation is occasionally divided into "early" and "late" stages, with different species inhabiting different sections, the gar Lepisosteus occidentalis is found throughout the entire rock series of the Hell Creek Formation. Not only was Lepisosteus occidentalis found within all of the rock layers of the Hell Creek Formation, but it was extremely common as well. According to a survey of Hell Creek fossils within North and South Dakota which was conducted in 2002, 938 specimens have been assigned to this species, which is a remarkable number indeed and accounts for 9.23% of all fossils found within the formation. Over one-third of all Hell Creek Formation localities within the Dakotas contained gar fossils.

Size: They average 2 kilograms in weight.Females can measure up to 3.2 feet long while males measure at 60 cm.

Distribution: While in the present day, Lepisosteus is only known across North America, fossil remains show it was much more widespread in the past, with specimens known from the Cretaceous of India and Brazil.

Reproduction: They generally have a clutch size close to 30,000, depending on the weight-to-length ratio of the females; larger females bear larger clutch sizes. They spawn in temperatures close to 20 °C (68 °F) in late April to early July. Eggs have a toxic, adhesive coating to help them stick to substrates, and they are deposited onto stones in shallow water, rocky shelves, vegetation, or smallmouth bass nests. Their hatch time is 7-9 days; young gars stay in vegetation during the first summer of life.

Paleobiology

Diet: They are ambush predators seeking the cover of aquatic vegetation to hunt their prey which include small fish and occasionally insects and small crustaceans; they mostly feed at night.

Interactions with other species: Often ignored by the large dinosaurs, adults and young are most vulnerable to predators like Pectinodon, Dromaeosaurus, Acheroraptor, Anzu, Quetzalcoatlus, and juvenile T. Rex, Lonchidion, predatory fish like Melvius, Didelphodon, Borealosuchus, Thoracosaurus, Champsosaurus, Brachychampsa, Axestemys, Palaeobatrachus, Scapherpeton, Habrosaurus, and even other Gars.

Adults would prey on Palaeobatrachus, and young Scapherpeton, Lonchidion, Melvius, Myledaphus, Casterolimulus, and Paleopsephurus.

Extinction: The geological range of this species is from the Judithian to the Torrejonian Stages of the late Cretaceous Period and into the Tertiary Period, from approximately 85-60 million years ago. This makes the Western Gar one of the few species which are confirmed to have survived the mass extinction at the end of the Mesozoic Era.

Danger Tip: It's best to be careful when handling them the gars can thrash and could bite you with their sharp teeth.

Significant Events: On the Team's Final Day of their First Rescue Mission, the team comes upon a group of Lepisosteus occidentalis, Lonchidion, Paleopsephurus, Myledaphus, and Melvius, and a group of Casterolimulus crawling along the river alongside amphibians, Habrosaurus and Scapherpetons, and various fish. They were captured in nets to be transported to the Park. They now reside in the Hell Creek Forest Building.

Hell Creek Forest Building Aquarium: This large tank houses most of the Hell Creek Fishes and aquatic life like Casterolimulus, Paleopsephurus, Lonchidion, and Myledaphus replicating the freshwater waterways, visitors can view them with underwater thick glass panel viewing. Try to count the teeth from the jaws of the Lepisosteus occidentalis on your next visit.

Conclusion: For anglers who love to catch fish like gars would be bewildered when they learn that this ancient fish has been around during the age of the dinosaurs. The Lepisosteus occidentalis is a prehistoric toothy fish worthy of seeing at Prehistoric Park

The Field Guide might take a long time, like structuring and writing descriptions of the creatures, but also my time in college and spending time with my family. So you can suggest additional information quotes, descriptions, and natural or speculative behaviors for the prehistoric animals that I can edit and you send your suggestions either in reviews or Private Messages.

Examples: Inferring what the toons are doodling on the sketches or snarking quotes.

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