Kingena Brachiopod a.jpg

Kingena Brachiopod

SITE LOCATION: Main St. Formation, Johnson County, Texas, USA
TIME PERIOD: Lower Cretaceous (100-145 million years ago)
Data: Kingena is an extinct genus of brachiopods that lived from the Cretaceous to the early Paleocene in Antarctica, Europe, North America, and New Zealand. Terebratulids are one of only three living orders of articulate brachiopods, the others being the Rhynchonellida and the Thecideida. Craniida and Lingulida include living brachiopods, but are inarticulates. The name, Terebratula, may be derived from the Latin "terebra", meaning "hole-borer". The perceived resemblance of terebratulid shells to ancient Roman oil lamps gave the brachiopods their common name "lamp shell".
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Brachiopoda
Class: Rhynchonellata
Order: Terebratulida
Family: †Kingenidae
Genus: †Kingena