Amyzon is an extinct genus belonging to the sucker family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Catostomidae

Catostomidae

Catostomidae is the sucker family of the order Cypriniformes. There are 80 species in this family of freshwater fishes. Catostomidae are found in North America, east central China, and eastern Siberia...

 first described in 1872 by E. D. Cope

Edward Drinker Cope

Edward Drinker Cope was an American paleontologist and comparative anatomist, as well as a noted herpetologist and ichthyologist. Born to a wealthy Quaker family, Cope distinguished himself as a child prodigy interested in science; he published his first scientific paper at the age of nineteen...

. There are 4 valid species in this genus of freshwater fish

Fish

Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...

es. Amyzon are found in North American fossil sites dated from the Early Eocene in Washington the Early Oligocene in Nevada

Nevada

Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...

.

Species

There are currently four valid species included in Amyzon with up to seven species having been described.

• Amyzon aggregatum (Wilson, 1977) Early Eocene, Horsefly Beds, Horsefly, B.C.
• Amyzon brevipinne (Cope
  Edward Drinker Cope
  Edward Drinker Cope was an American paleontologist and comparative anatomist, as well as a noted herpetologist and ichthyologist. Born to a wealthy Quaker family, Cope distinguished himself as a child prodigy interested in science; he published his first scientific paper at the age of nineteen...
  
  , 1894) Early Eocene, Allenby Foramtion, Princeton, B.C.
• Amyzon commune (Cope
  Edward Drinker Cope
  Edward Drinker Cope was an American paleontologist and comparative anatomist, as well as a noted herpetologist and ichthyologist. Born to a wealthy Quaker family, Cope distinguished himself as a child prodigy interested in science; he published his first scientific paper at the age of nineteen...
  
  , 1874) late Eocene Florissant Formation, Colorado
• Amyzon mentale (Cope
  Edward Drinker Cope
  Edward Drinker Cope was an American paleontologist and comparative anatomist, as well as a noted herpetologist and ichthyologist. Born to a wealthy Quaker family, Cope distinguished himself as a child prodigy interested in science; he published his first scientific paper at the age of nineteen...
  
  , 1872) Oligocene, Osino Oil Shales, Nevada

• A. gosiutensis Grande, Eastman, and Cavender, 1982 Eocene Green River Formation
  Green River Formation
  The Green River Formation is an Eocene geologic formation that records the sedimentation in a group of intermountain lakes. The sediments are deposited in very fine layers, a dark layer during the growing season and a light-hue inorganic layer in winter. Each pair of layers is called a varve and...
  
  , Wyoming, Jr synonym of A. aggregatum
• A. pandatum Cope, 1874 Eocene Florissant Formation, Jr synonym of A. commune
• A. fusiforme Cope, 1875 Eocene Florissant Formation, Jr synonym of A. commune