Reassignment of a junior synonym of Lepisosteus oculatus Winchell 1864 to L. platostomus Rafinesque 1820

The foundation for the current taxonomy of Lepisosteidae (gars) was laid by Suttkus (1963) and Wiley (1976); these authors recognized only two extant genera as valid, Lepisosteus and Atractosteus. These authors also only recognized seven living species of gars and assigned several previously recognized species as junior synonyms. One of these, Lepisosteus oculatus Winchell 1864 possesses five junior synonyms: Cylindrosteus latirostris Girard 1858, Cylindrosteus productus Cope 1865, Cylindrosteus agassizii Duméril 1870, Cylindrosteus zadockii Duméril 1870 and Cylindrosteus bartonii Duméril 1870. Cylindrosteus zadockii was described from two syntypes collected from the “Upper Mississippi River” (MHNH 5799, 5800; Figure 1), and was designated a junior synonym of L. platostomus by Jordan et al. (1930), and later placed in synonymy with L. oculatus by Wiley (1976). However, Wiley denoted the synonymy as questionable by placing “?” in front of the C. zadockii name. Although never stated, it is possible that Wiley’s (1976) designation of Cylindrosteus zadockii as a junior synonym of Lepisosteus oculatus was based on the vague description of the original type locality in relation to present-day distributions of L. oculatus (see below). Wiley’s synonymy of C. zadockii was accepted by Grande (2010) in his comprehensive monograph on gars but we provide reason here to challenge it. The dried syntypes of C. zadockii were deposited in the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris and we were able to access photographs of the specimens from the museum database and museum staff. Upon examination of the photographs of the syntypes, we found evidence showing C. zadockii to be a junior synonym of L. platostomus (Shortnose Gar) rather than of L. oculatus (Spotted Gar), supporting the original designation by Jordan et al. (1930).