''Oecoptychius'' 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 ...

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

ammonite cephalopods. The species lived during the Middle Jurassic.

Taxonomic position

''Oecophtychius'' was named by Neumayr in 1878. It is placed into Oecoptychitidae, a family of dwarf ammonites established by Arkell, 1957, that is a part of the superfamily

Stephanoceratoidea Stephanoceratoidea, formerly Stephanocerataceae, is a superfamily of middle- upper Jurassic ammonoid cephalopods within the order Ammonitida containing diverse forms, generally with sharp ribbing and complex suture lines. Aptychi are believed t ...

Diagnosis

''Oecoptychius'' is an eccentrically coiled, dwarf ammonite. Inner whorls smooth, spheroidal; outer whorls with fine biplicate ribbing, ventral groove, and an acute elbow at half a whorl before the aperture; peristome contracted, with outwardly directed lappets.

Distribution

Fossils of the ''Oecophtychius'' species have been found in Jurassic sediments of France, Germany and Madagascar.

References

* W.J. Arkell, et al., 1957. Mesozoic Ammonoidea; Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part L, Ammonoidea. Geological Society of America and University of Kansas Press. Ammonitida genera Haploceratoidea Jurassic ammonites Prehistoric animals of Madagascar {{ammonitina-stub