''Pygope'' is an extinct
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...
of
brachiopod
Brachiopods (), phylum Brachiopoda, are a phylum of trochozoan animals that have hard "valves" (shells) on the upper and lower surfaces, unlike the left and right arrangement in bivalve molluscs. Brachiopod valves are hinged at the rear end, w ...
s belonging to the family
Pygopidae. These brachiopods lived in open sea from the
Jurassic
The Jurassic ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of ...
Period,
Kimmeridgian
In the geologic timescale, the Kimmeridgian is an age in the Late Jurassic Epoch and a stage in the Upper Jurassic Series. It spans the time between 157.3 ± 1.0 Ma and 152.1 ± 0.9 Ma (million years ago). The Kimmeridgian follows the Oxford ...
age (152.1–157.3 mya) up to
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...
Period,
Barremian
The Barremian is an age in the geologic timescale (or a chronostratigraphic stage) between 129.4 ± 1.5 Ma (million years ago) and 121.4 ± 1.0 Ma). It is a subdivision of the Early Cretaceous Epoch (or Lower Cretaceous Series). It is precede ...
age (125.0–~129.4 mya). Some of the species are characterised by a smaller or larger perforation through the entire shell in older specimens, while others just have a depression somewhere on the midline. Younger specimens of the perforated species develop a heart-shape and subsequently both extensions merge, thus encircling a central passage which is in fact entirely outside the shell.
Distribution
* ''P. catulloi'' occurs in Upper Jurassic (Tithonian) to Lower Cretaceous (Valanginian) of Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania and Switzerland.
* ''P. diphya'' has been found in the Lower Cretaceous of Poland (Early Berriasian, Rogoza Klippes, Rogoznik, 49.5° N, 19.9° E,
[ ''cited in'' ] ''Euxinus'' Zone-''Occitanica'' Zone, Sobotka and Korowa Member, Dursztyn Formation, Cisowa Skala, Bursukowa Skala, Lysa Skala, and Czorsztyn-Sobotka, 49.0° N, 20.0° E),
[ cited in ] Slovakia (Berriasian, Rogoznik Member, Durstyn Formation), Kyjov, Puste Pole, 49.0° N, 20.0° E).
* ''P. janitor'' is present in the Upper Jurassic of Bulgaria (Kimmeridgian, ''Lacunosella sparcicosta'' zone, Nechinska Bara, Gorno Belotintsi, 43.5° N, 22.9° E), Hungary (Lower Tithonian, Szel-hegy, Gerecse Mts, 47.0° N, 18.0° E), Poland (Early through to Late Titonian, Rogoza Klippes, Rogoznik, 49.5° N, 19.9° E),
the Lower Cretaceous of Greenland (North Mols Bjerge, Traill Island, and Brorson Halvo, Wollaston Forland, both Lower Valanginian, Albrechts Bugt Member, Palnatokes Bjerg Formation east Greenland)
[ ''cited in'' ] and Poland (Berriasian, ''Euxinus'' Zone-''Occitanica'' Zone, Sobotka and Korowa Member, Dursztyn Formation, Cisowa Skala, Lysa Skala, Bursukowa Skala, Czorsztyn-Sobotka and 49.0° N, 20.0° E).
References
External links
Paleobiology DatabaseSepkoski's Online Genus Database
Prehistoric brachiopod genera
Kimmeridgian first appearances
Early Cretaceous genus extinctions
Terebratulida
{{brachiopod-stub
.jpg.html){kind=link}