biology

Puzosia

Puzosia is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Puzosia rather than just read about it. In short: 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). Sepkoski defines the range from Albian to Santonian.

Key takeaways

Puzosia belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Puzosia to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Puzosia from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

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). Sepkoski defines the range from Albian to Santonian. The generic name comes from the Serbian words "Puž" (snail) and "oce/ose" (axis), gaining its name from the shell's snail-like appearance.

Children taxa

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 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. 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.

References

Further reading W.J. Arkell et al., 1957. Mesozoic Ammonoidea L365, Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part L, Ammonoidea. Geological Society of America and Univ Kansas Press.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Puzosia

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Puzosia claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Puzosia before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Puzosia ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Puzosia

In research: Puzosia appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Puzosia in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Puzosia is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Albian genera, Ammonites of Africa, Ammonites of Asia, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Puzosia outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Puzosia in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Puzosia means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Puzosia out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Puzosia in simple terms?

Why does Puzosia matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Puzosia?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Puzosia.