The imagery on this page is the basis for a paper entitled Morphological description of the extinct North American Sucker Moxostoma lacerum (Ostariophysi, Catostomidae), based on high-resolution X-ray computed tomography, by W.L. Fink and J.H. Humphries (2010, Copeia 2010:5-13). The abstract is as follows:

       Moxostoma lacerum was the first member of the North American ichthyofauna to be documented as        extinct. The unique oral morphology of the species has been of interest, as has its unusual diet of        small snails. Because of the rarity of specimens, and the disarticulated condition of available        skeletons, we take this opportunity to describe the oral skeletal morphology, using the HRXCT        technology to reconstruct the skeleton digitally. We find that the premaxillary bones lie        posteromedial to the maxillae and that maxilla shape is asymmetrical; it is likely that the animal        sucked snails from their shells while holding the shells with a keratinized mandibular shelf.

Additional annotated movies and images are archived in permanent long term storage at: Deep Blue

This specimen measures 117 mm SL and was collected from Clear Creek, Wildee, Kentucky on 11 August 1890. It was made available to the University of Texas High-Resolution X-ray CT Facility for scanning by Dr. William Fink of the University of Michigan and Drs. Julian Humphries and Timothy Rowe of The University of Texas at Austin. Funding was provided by a National Science Foundation Digital Libraries Initiative grant to Dr. Rowe.

The main specimen was scanned by Richard Ketcham on 24 May 2001 along the coronal axis for a total of 704 slices. Each 512x512 pixel slice is 0.079 mm thick, with an interslice spacing of 0.079 mm and a field of reconstruction of 34.7 mm.

The isolated suspensorium (USNM 036189; see Additional Imagery) was scanned by Matthew Colbert on 15 April 2005 for a total of 105 slices. Each 1024x1024 pixel slice is 0.050 mm thick, with an interslice spacing of 0.050 mm and a field of reconstruction of 20 mm.

Literature

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Smith, G. R. 1992. Phylogeny and biogeography of the Catostomidae, freshwater fishes of North America and Asia, p. 778–826. In: Systematics, Historical Ecology, and North American Freshwater Fishes. R. L. Mayden (ed.). Stanford University Press, Stanford, California.

Additional annotated movies and images are archived in permanent long term storage at: Deep Blue

Additional annotated movies and images are archived in permanent long term storage at: Deep Blue

Click on the thumbnail to the left for labeled images of Moxostoma lacerum from several different perspectives. Color coding indicates respective elements.

Click on the thumbnail to the left for labeled image of the skull of Moxostoma lacerum.

Click on the thumbnail to the left for labeled image of the skull of Moxostoma lacerum.