Puzosia Temporal range: Aptian–Maastrichtian |
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Fossil shell of Puzosia compressa from Madagascar, on display at Galerie de paléontologie et d'anatomie comparée in Paris | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Mollusca |
Class: | Cephalopoda |
Order: | Ammonitida |
Family: | Desmoceratidae |
Subfamily: | Puzosiinae |
Genus: |
Puzosia Bayle, 1878 |
Puzosia is a genus of desmoceratid ammonites, and the type genus for the Puzosiinae, which lived during the middle part of the Cretaceous, from early Aptian to Maastrichtian (125.5 to 70.6 Ma). Sepkoski defines the range from Albian to Santonian. The generic name comes from the Serbian words "Puž" (snail) and "oce/ose" (axis), gaining its name from the shell's snail-like appearance.
The shell of Puzosia is basically discoidal, evolute to subinvolute, with a wide umbiicaus. Sides bear close spaced sinuous ribs, periodically interrupted by narrow sinuous constrictions, about six per whorl. Whorl section is somewhat compressed, higher than wide, with slightly convex sides and rounded venter. The suture is complexly ammonitic.
Fossils of species within this genus have been found in the Cretaceous sediments of Angola, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia (Tolima), Egypt, France, Germany, India, Iran, Italy, Japan, Madagascar, Mexico, New Zealand, Nigeria, Peru, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Suriname, the United Kingdom, United States.