''Eocypridina'' is an extinct

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

ostracod Ostracods, or ostracodes, are a Class (biology), class of the crustacean, Crustacea (class Ostracoda), sometimes known as seed shrimp. Some 33,000 species (only 13,000 of which are extant taxon, extant) have been identified,Brandão, S.N.; Antoni ...

s which lived from the

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a period (geology), geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era during the Phanerozoic eon (geology), eon, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the preceding Silurian per ...

early Triassic The Early Triassic is the first of three epochs of the Triassic Period of the geologic timescale. It spans the time between 251.9 Ma and Ma (million years ago). Rocks from this epoch are collectively known as the Lower Triassic Series, which ...

periods in the United States and Scotland. It was first named in 1960, with ''E. campbelli'' as its type species.

Discovery and naming

Fossils of ''Eocypridina'' have been described decades before the genus was named. In 1874, a monograph by Jones, Kirkby & Brady was published in which they named the species '' Cypridina radiata'', believing it was most similar to other species of ''Cypridina''. The

type series In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally associated. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes t ...

of ''C. radiata'' was collected from the "Upper Coal-measures" of the Airdrie Blackbank Ironstone in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, Scotland by John Young. The genus ''Eocypridina'' was erected in 1960 by Kesling and Ploch, with ''E. campbelli'' as its type species. They collected several specimens from sediments of the Blackiston Formation on the north bank of the

Ohio River The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

, and deposited them in the University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology. The

carapace A carapace is a dorsal (upper) section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods, such as crustaceans and arachnids, as well as vertebrates, such as turtles and tortoises. In turtles and tortoises, the unde ...

of a female (UMMP 40548) was chosen as the

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

of this species, while several other specimens were designated as

paratype In zoology and botany, a paratype is a specimen of an organism that helps define what the scientific name of a species and other taxon actually represents, but it is not the holotype (and in botany is also neither an isotype (biology), isotype ...

s. The generic name combines a Greek ἠώς, (''eos''), "dawn", with the name ''Cypridina'', referring to how it is an early relative of the extant genus. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

honors Guy Campbell, who collected the studied specimens. In 1973, Martin J. M. Bless established a new genus of ostracods which he named ''Radiicypridina''. He justified the naming of this genus based on the presence of rosettes with needle-shaped radii in the

calcareous Calcareous () is an adjective meaning "mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate", in other words, containing lime (mineral), lime or being chalky. The term is used in a wide variety of Science, scientific disciplines. In zoology ''Calcare ...

layer and the complex pattern of muscle scars. However, I. G. Sohn pointed out in his 1977 publication that the rosettes are not an anatomical feature and thus is not a valid feature for genus recognition. In addition, the muscle scars were not significantly different from those of ''Eocypridina'', so ''Radiicypridina'' was declared a

junior synonym In taxonomy, the scientific classification of living organisms, a synonym is an alternative scientific name for the accepted scientific name of a taxon. The botanical and zoological codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. ...

of it.

References

External links

* Myodocopida Ostracod genera {{Paleo-crustacean-stub