Cupitheca

Cupitheca
Fossils of Cupitheca decollata
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Class:	† Hyolitha
Order:	† incertae sedis
Genus:	† Cupitheca Duan in Xing et al., 1984
Species
†C. clathrataBengtson in Bengtson et al., 1990 †C. costellata Xiao & Zhou, 1984 †C. convexaSun et al., 2018 †C. decollataSun et al., 2019 †C. holocyclataBengtson in Bengtson et al., 1990 †C. mira He in Qian, 1977

Cupitheca is a genus of Cambrian hyolith with the unusual distinction of shedding the apex of its camerate conical shell. As with Triplicatella and Hyptiotheca , its designation to the hyolithids or orthothecids is not straightforward, exhibiting as it does a mixture of the characters that would normally demark the two subtaxa of Hyolitha. ^[1]

References

1. Skovsted, Christian B.; Pan, Bing; Topper, Timothy P.; Betts, Marissa J.; Li, Guoxiang; Brock, Glenn A. (2016). "The operculum and mode of life of the lower Cambrian hyolith Cupitheca from South Australia and North China". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 443: 123–130. Bibcode:2016PPP...443..123S. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2015.11.042.