Pipiscius

Pipiscius is an extinct genus of lamprey that lived about 300 million years ago, during the Middle Pennsylvanian Epoch of the Carboniferous Period. The genus contains a single species, P. zangerli, known from the Mazon Creek fossil beds located in present-day Illinois.^[1]

Pipiscius Temporal range: Moscovian (Middle) Pennsylvanian Epoch, Carboniferous Period
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Subphylum:	Vertebrata
Infraphylum:	Agnatha
Superclass:	Cyclostomi
Class:	Petromyzontida
Order:	Petromyzontiformes
Genus:	†Pipiscius Bardack & Richardson, 1977
Species:	†P. zangerli
Binomial name
†Pipiscius zangerli Bardack & Richardson, 1977

It has a distinctive crown-like mouth comprising a ring of radially arranged teeth.^[2] However, some specimens assigned to the coeval lamprey Mayomyzon, also found in the Mazon Creek beds, also have similar mouthparts. Since Pipiscius does not have many any other defining features, it has been suggested that the two genera are synonymous, with the name Mayomyzon having priority. ^[3]

Fossil collectors have nicknamed Pipiscius the “Push me-Pull you” in reference to each end being very similar in shape.^[4]

See also

• Paleozoic jawless fish
• Prehistoric jawless fish genera