Puzosia Temporal range: Aptian–Maastrichtian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Fossil shell of Puzosia compressa from Madagascar, on display at Galerie de paléontologie et d'anatomie comparée in Paris
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Cephalopoda
Subclass:	†Ammonoidea
Order:	†Ammonitida
Family:	†Desmoceratidae
Subfamily:	†Puzosiinae
Genus:	†Puzosia Bayle, 1878

Puzosia is a genus of desmoceratid ammonites, and the type genus for the Puzosiinae, which lived during the middle part of the Cretaceous, from early Aptian to Maastrichtian (125.5 to 70.6 Ma).^[1] Sepkoski defines the range from Albian to Santonian.^[2] The generic name comes from the Serbian words "Puž" (snail) and "oce/ose" (axis), gaining its name from the shell's snail-like appearance.^{[citation needed]}

Subgenera and species

• Puzosia (Anapuzosia) Matsumoto 1954
• Puzosia (Bhimaites) Matsumoto 1954
  • Puzosia (Bhimaites) bhima Stoliczka 1865
• Puzosia (Puzosia) Bayle 1878
  • Puzosia (Puzosia) mayoriana d'Orbigny 1841
  • Puzosia (Puzosia) planulatus Sowerby 1827
  • Puzosia alaskana Imlay 1960
  • Puzosia bistricta White 1887
  • Puzosia brasiliana Maury 1936
  • Puzosia crebrisulcata Kossmat 1898
  • Puzosia dilleri Anderson 1902
  • Puzosia garajauana Maury 1936
  • Puzosia lata Seitz 1931
  • Puzosia longmani Whitehouse 1926
  • Puzosia lytoceroides Haas 1952
  • Puzosia media Seitz 1931
  • Puzosia quenstedti Parona and Bonarelli 1897
  • Puzosia rosarica Maury 1936
  • Puzosia skidegatensis McLearn 1972

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 Cretaceous 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.^[1]

In 2019, a Puzosia (Bhimaites) shell was found fossilized in a 99 million-year-old chunk of Burmese amber from Myanmar, 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.^[3][4]