''Perisphinctes'' is an extinct

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

ammonite Ammonoids are a group of extinct marine mollusc animals in the subclass Ammonoidea of the class Cephalopoda. These molluscs, commonly referred to as ammonites, are more closely related to living coleoids (i.e., octopuses, squid and cuttlefish) ...

cephalopod. They lived during the Middle to

Late Jurassic The Late Jurassic is the third epoch of the Jurassic Period, and it spans the geologic time from 163.5 ± 1.0 to 145.0 ± 0.8 million years ago (Ma), which is preserved in Upper Jurassic strata.Owen 1987. In European lithostratigraphy, the name ...

epochs and serve as an

index fossil Biostratigraphy is the branch of stratigraphy which focuses on correlating and assigning relative ages of rock Stratum, strata by using the fossil assemblages contained within them.Hine, Robert. “Biostratigraphy.” ''Oxford Reference: Dictiona ...

for that time period. The species ''P. boweni'' was named after the English chemist and geologist

E. J. Bowen Edmund ("Ted") John Bowen Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (29 April 1898 – 19 November 1980) was a British physical chemist. Life Born in Worcester, England, Worcester, England, E. J. Bowen attended the Royal Grammar School Worcester. He w ...

(1898–1980).

Distribution

Shells of species belonging to this genus have been found in the Jurassic of Antarctica, Argentina, Chile, Cuba, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Iran, Italy, Japan, Madagascar, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Yemen.

Gallery

File:Perisphinctes (Prosososphinctes) virguloides (Waagen).jpg, ''Perisphinctes virguloides'' File:Perisphinctes cf choffati.JPG, '' Perisphinctes choffati'' File:Perisphinctes plicatilis 2.jpg, ''Perisphinctes plicatilis'' File:Perisphingtes de Talant.JPG, ''Perisphingtes oxfordien''

References

Ammonitida genera Perisphinctidae Late Jurassic ammonites Late Jurassic ammonites of Europe Ammonites of Africa Jurassic animals of Africa Ammonites of Asia Jurassic Asia Ammonites of South America Jurassic Argentina Jurassic Chile Fossil taxa described in 1869 Callovian first appearances Late Jurassic extinctions {{Jurassic-animal-stub