Gasterosteus

Gasterosteus Temporal range: Middle Miocene–present PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Gasterosteus microcephalus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Perciformes
Family:	Gasterosteidae
Genus:	Gasterosteus Linnaeus, 1758
Type species
Gasterosteus aculeatus Linnaeus, 1758
Synonyms
Obolarius Tilesius, 1811 Gasteracanthus Pallas, 1814 Leiurus Swainson, 1839 Gladiunculus Jordan & Evermann, 1927

Gasterosteus is a genus of ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Gasterosteidae, the sticklebacks. These fishes are found in freshwater, brackish water and marine habitats in the Holarctic region.

Species

There are currently 6 recognized species in this genus:

• Gasterosteus aculeatus Linnaeus, 1758 (Three-spined stickleback)
• † Gasterosteus crenobiontus Băcescu & R. Mayer, 1956 (Techirghiol stickleback)
• Gasterosteus islandicus Sauvage, 1874 (Iceland stickleback)
• Gasterosteus microcephalus Girard, 1854 (Smallhead stickleback)
• Gasterosteus nipponicus Higuchi, Sakai & A. Goto, 2014 ^[1]
• Gasterosteus wheatlandi Putnam, 1867 (Black-spotted stickleback)

Additionally there are a number of fossil species including:

• † Gasterosteus abnormis Gretchina, 1981 (middle Miocene of Sakhalin, Russia) ^[2]
• † Gasterosteus doryssus (Jordan, 1907) (=Merriamella doryssaJordan, 1907, G. apodusMural, 1973) (late Miocene of Nevada, USA) ^{[3] [4]}
• † Gasterosteus kamoensis Nazarkin, Yabumoto & Urabe, 2013 (Late Miocene of Japan) ^[2]
• † Gasterosteus orientalis Sychevskaya, 1981 (middle Miocene of Kamchatka, Russia) ^[2]

Gasterosteus doryssus , a fossil freshwater species from Nevada

Fossils of essentially modern three-spined sticklebacks, assigned to G. aculeatus, are known from the mid-late Miocene of California, USA. ^[5]

References

1. Higuchi, M., Sakai, H. & Goto, A. (2014): A new threespine stickleback, Gasterosteus nipponicus sp. nov. (Teleostei: Gasterosteidae), from the Japan Sea region. Ichthyological Research, (61) 4: 341-351.
2. Nazarkin, Mikhail V.; Yabumoto, Yoshitaka; Urabe, Atsushi (2013). "A New Miocene Three-Spined Stickleback (Pisces: Gasterosteidae) from Central Japan" . Paleontological Research. 16 (4): 318–328. doi:10.2517/1342-8144-16.4.318. ISSN   1342-8144.
3. Mural, Richard J. (1973). "The Pliocene Sticklebacks of Nevada with a Partial Osteology of the Gasterosteidae" . Copeia. 1973 (4): 721–735. doi:10.2307/1443072. ISSN   0045-8511.
4. Stuart, Yoel E.; Travis, Matthew P.; Bell, Michael A. (2020). "Inferred genetic architecture underlying evolution in a fossil stickleback lineage". Nature Ecology & Evolution. 4 (11): 1549–1557. doi:10.1038/s41559-020-01287-x. ISSN   2397-334X.
5. Bell, Michael A.; Stewart, J. D.; Park, Peter J. (2009-06-12). "The World's Oldest Fossil Threespine Stickleback Fish" . Copeia. 2009 (2): 256–265. doi:10.1643/CG-08-059. ISSN   0045-8511.