Paupospira

Classification
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: Murchisoniina
Family: Lophospiridae
Genus: Paupospira Wagner, 1999
Cincinnatian Species: Paupospira bowdeni

Geologic Range
Upper Ordovician – Silurian

Common Paleoecology
Paupospira is an extinct genus of facultatively mobile epifaunal suspension feeders

Identification in Hand Sample:

Geographic Occurrences

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Wagner (1999):

Conversely, reduced monophyletic definitions recognizing only the clades terminated in the Ashgill fail to recognize that the group diverged during the Middle Ordovician. A new monophyletic genus, Paupospira, also illustrates how strictly monophyletic higher taxa can obfuscate historical patterns. That genus is nearly eliminated by the end-Ordovician extinction, but a sole survivor is known from the Llandovery. The genus’ demise somewhat misleadingly now represents a “background” extinction (Jablonski, 1986).

P. bowdeni