Biology:Virgatites

Short description: Genus of molluscs (fossil)

Virgatites Temporal range: Upper Jurassic, 150.8–145.5 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Fossil shell of Virgatites virgatus from Russia, on display at Galerie de paléontologie et d'anatomie comparée in Paris
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Cephalopoda
Subclass:	Ammonoidea
Order:	Ammonitida
Family:	Perisphinctidae
Subfamily:	Virgatitinae
Genus:	Virgatites (Pavlov, 1892)

Virgatites is an extinct genus of ammonoid cephalopod belonging to the family Perisphinctidae. Related genera in the Virgatitinae include Acuticostites and Zaraiskites. Species in this genus were fast-moving nektonic carnivores.

Species

• Virgatites virgatus (Buch 1830)
• Virgatites pallasianus (d'Orbigny, 1845)
• Virgatites sosia (Vischniakoff 1882)
• Virgatites larisae Mitta 1983
• Virgatites gerassimovi Mitta 1983
• Virgatites crassicostatus Mitta 1987
• Virgatites rarecostatus Rogov 2017

Description

Viratites has a ribbed evolute shell without tubercles.

Distribution

These cephalopods lived during the Volgan stage (or Tithonian age) of the upper Jurassic in what is now the Russian Platform.

Further reading

• W.J Arkell, et al., Mesozoic Ammonoidea; Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part L, 1957. Geological Society of America and University of Kansas Press.
• V.V. Mitta, 1993. The Systematic Composition of the Middle Volgian Virgatitidae (Ammonoidea) of Central Asia Paleontological Journal 27(4).

Wikidata ☰ Q18395435 entry