''Puzosia'' is a genus of desmoceratid

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 ...

s, and the

type genus In biological taxonomy, the type genus (''genus typica'') is the genus which defines a biological family and the root of the family name. Zoological nomenclature According to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, "The name-bearin ...

for the Puzosiinae, which lived during the middle part of the

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...

, from early

Aptian The Aptian is an age (geology), age in the geologic timescale or a stage (stratigraphy), stage in the stratigraphic column. It is a subdivision of the Early Cretaceous, Early or Lower Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch or series (stratigraphy), S ...

Maastrichtian The Maastrichtian ( ) is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) geologic timescale, the latest age (geology), age (uppermost stage (stratigraphy), stage) of the Late Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch or Upper Cretaceous series (s ...

(125.5 to 70.6 Ma). Sepkoski defines the range from Albian to Santonian.Sepkoski, Jac
Sepkoski's Online Genus Database – Cephalopoda
/ref> The generic name comes from the

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * Pertaining to Serbia in Southeast Europe; in particular **Serbs, a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans ** Serbian language ** Serbian culture **Demographics of Serbia, includes other ethnic groups within the co ...

words "Puž" (snail) and "oce/ose" (axis), gaining its name from the shell's snail-like appearance.

Children taxa

Puzosia Bhimaites species Burmese amber PNAS Fig2 A

Subgenera and species of ''Puzosia'': * '' Puzosia (Anapuzosia)'' Matsumoto 1954 * '' Puzosia (Bhimaites)'' Matsumoto 1954 ** ''Puzosia (Bhimaites) bhima'' Stoliczka 1865 ** ''Puzosia (Bhimaites) stoliczkai'' Kossmat 1898 * ''Puzosia (Eocanadoceras)'' Anderson 1958 ** ''Puzosia (Eocanadoceras) hannai'' Anderson 1958 * ''Puzosia (Latidorsella)'' Jacob 1907 * '' Puzosia (Puzosia)'' Bayle 1878 ** ''Puzosia (Puzosia) communis'' Spath 1923 ** ''Puzosia (Puzosia) compressa'' Kossmat 1898 ** ''Puzosia (Puzosia) mayoriana'' d'Orbigny 1841 ** ''Puzosia (Puzosia) paronae'' Kilian 1900 ** ''Puzosia (Puzosia) planulatus'' Sowerby 1827 ** ''Puzosia (Puzosia) sharpei'' Spath 1923 ** ''Puzosia alaskana'' Imlay 1960 ** ''Puzosia angladei'' Savn 1890 ** ''Puzosia bistricta'' White 1887 ** ''Puzosia brasiliana'' Maury 1936 ** ''Puzosia crebrisulcata'' Kossmat 1898 ** ''Puzosia cuvervillei'' Meunier 1888 ** ''Puzosia dilleri'' Anderson 1902 ** ''Puzosia lata'' Seitz 1931 ** ''Puzosia lata'' Seitz 1931 ** ''Puzosia longmani'' Whitehouse 1926 ** ''Puzosia media'' Seitz 1931 ** ''Puzosia puma'' Murphy & Rodda 1960 ** ''Puzosia quenstedti'' Parona and Bonarelli 1897 ** ''Puzosia skidegatensis'' McLearn 1972 ** ''Puzosia spathi'' Venzo 1936 ** ''Puzosia sullivanae'' Murphy & Rodda 1960 ** ''Puzosia tenuis'' Haas 1942

Description

The shell of ''Puzosia'' is basically discoidal, evolute to subinvolute, with a wide umbiicaus. Sides bear close spaced sinuous ribs, periodically interrupted by narrow sinuous constrictions, about six per whorl. Whorl section is somewhat compressed, higher than wide, with slightly convex sides and rounded venter. The suture is complexly ammonitic.

Distribution

Fossils of species within this genus have been found in the

sediments of Angola, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia ( Tolima), Egypt, France, Germany, India, Iran, Italy, Japan, Madagascar, Mexico, New Zealand, Nigeria, Peru, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Suriname, the United Kingdom, United States. In 2019, a '' Puzosia (Bhimaites)'' shell was found fossilized in a 99 million-year-old chunk of

Burmese amber Burmese amber, also known as Burmite or Kachin amber, is amber from the Hukawng Valley in northern Myanmar. The amber is dated to around 100 million years ago, during the latest Albian to earliest Cenomanian ages of the mid-Cretaceous period. Th ...

from

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

, marking the first known discovery of an ammonite preserved in amber. The ammonite's shell was presumably picked up and preserved after the resin fell off a tree and tumbled across the seashore.

Children taxa

Description

Distribution

References

Further reading