Pantosteus clarkii (Baird & Girard, 1854)
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
The desert sucker or Gila Mountain sucker (Pantosteus clarkii), is a freshwater species of ray-finned fish in the sucker family, endemic to the Great Basin and the Colorado River Basin in the United States. It inhabits rapids and fast-flowing streams with gravelly bottoms. It is a bi-colored fish with the upper parts olive brown to dark green, and the underparts silvery-tan or yellowish. The head is cylindrical, tapering to a thick-lipped mouth on the underside. This fish can grow to 31 in (79 cm) in Arizona but is generally only about half this size elsewhere. Formerly placed in the genus Catostomus, it is now placed in the genus Pantosteus.
Wikipedia contributors, Desert sucker; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T23:29:55.634080+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Pantosteus clarkii (Baird & Girard, 1854)
- Name authority
- (Baird & Girard, 1854)
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Cypriniformes
- Family
- Catostomidae
- Genus
- Pantosteus
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: no · Freshwater: yes · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderCypriniformes
- familyCatostomidae Agassiz, 1850
- subfamilyCatostominae Agassiz, 1850
- tribeCatostomini Agassiz, 1850
- genusPantosteus Cope in Cope & Yarrow, 1875
- speciesPantosteus clarkii (Baird & Girard, 1854)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Pantosteus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Pantosteus discobolus (Cope, 1871) | CatostomidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Pantosteus santaanae Snyder, 1908 | CatostomidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Pantosteus nebuliferus (Garman, 1881) | CatostomidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Pantosteus plebeius (Baird & Girard, 1854) | CatostomidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Pantosteus jordani Evermann, 1895 | CatostomidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Pantosteus platyrhynchus (Cope, 1874) | CatostomidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Notolepidomyzon intermedius Tanner, 1942 Tanner, 1942 | synonym |
| Catostomus clarki intermedius (Tanner, 1942) (Tanner, 1942) | synonym |
| Catostomus clarkii utahensis (Tanner, 1932) (Tanner, 1932) | synonym |
| Catostomus clarki Baird & Girard, 1854 Baird & Girard, 1854 | synonym |
| Notolepidomyzon utahensis Tanner, 1932 Tanner, 1932 | synonym |
| Pantosteus delphinus utahensis (Tanner, 1932) (Tanner, 1932) | synonym |
| Pantosteus intermedius (Tanner, 1942) (Tanner, 1942) | synonym |
| Catostomus clarkii Baird & Girard, 1854 Baird & Girard, 1854 | synonym |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1536904 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:4CHFW. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.