''Keuppia'' is an extinct genus of
octopus.
Taxonomy
It consists of two species, ''Keuppia hyperbolaris'' and ''Keuppia levante'', both of which lived approximately 95 million years ago. Both species were found in fossilized form, which is very uncommon for extinct octopuses, as the soft tissue of dead octopuses almost always disintegrates before it has a chance to fossilize.
Rare fossil octopuses found
NBC News, March 18, 2009 These fossils, along with those of the genus '' Styletoctopus'', were found from the 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 ...
-age Hâqel and Hjoula
Hjoula ( ar, حجولا) is a municipality in the Byblos District of Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate, Lebanon. It is 70 kilometers north of Beirut. Hjoula has an elevation of between 920 and 1,100 meters above sea level. Hjoula has a total land area o ...
localities in Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...
. The presence of a gladius
''Gladius'' () is a Latin word meaning "sword" (of any type), but in its narrow sense it refers to the sword of ancient Roman foot soldiers. Early ancient Roman swords were similar to those of the Greeks, called '' xiphe'' (plural; singular ''xi ...
vestige in this genus shows a transition from squid to octopus in which the inner shell has divided in two in early forms to eventually be reduced to lateralized stylets, as can be seen in ''Styletoctopus''.
See also
* 2009 extinct fossil octopus discoveries
References
Octopuses
Prehistoric cephalopod genera
Fossil taxa described in 2009
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