''Oecoptychius'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

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 ...

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 preserve ...

ammonite Ammonoids are extinct, (typically) coiled-shelled cephalopods comprising the subclass Ammonoidea. They are more closely related to living octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish (which comprise the clade Coleoidea) than they are to nautiluses (family N ...

cephalopod A cephalopod is any member of the molluscan Taxonomic rank, class Cephalopoda (Greek language, Greek plural , ; "head-feet") such as a squid, octopus, cuttlefish, or nautilus. These exclusively marine animals are characterized by bilateral symm ...

s. The species lived during the

Middle Jurassic The Middle Jurassic is the second Epoch (geology), epoch of the Jurassic Period (geology), Period. It lasted from about 174.1 to 161.5 million years ago. Fossils of land-dwelling animals, such as dinosaurs, from the Middle Jurassic are relativel ...

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 ...

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