Pytine

{{Short description|Extinct genus of trilobites}} {{for|the comedy produced in 423 BC|Cratinus#Pytine}} {{Automatic taxobox | fossil_range = Early<ref name=Vaccari /> to Late Arenig<ref name="Sepkoski"/> | image = Pytine graia.JPG | image_caption = ''P. graia'' | taxon = Pytine | authority = Fortey, 1975 | type_species = ''Pytine graia'' | type_species_authority = Fortey, 1975 | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = * ''P. graia'' Fortey, 1975 * ''P.? brevicauda'' (Wiman, 1905) * ''P. corrugata'' Zhang & Zhou in Zhang, 1979 * ''P. wirayasqa'' Vaccari, et al. 2006<ref name=Vaccari>Vaccari, N. EMILIO, BEATRIZ G. Waisfeld, BRIAN DE Chatterton, and G. D. Edgecombe. "New raphiophorid trilobites from the Ordovician of Argentina and their biogeographic implications." MEMOIR-ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALASIAN PALAEONTOLOGISTS 32 (2006): 353. [http://www.nhm.ac.uk/resources-rx/files/vaccari-et-al-2006-raphiophoridae-94107.pdf]</ref> |synonyms = * ''Ampyx brevicauda'' Wiman, 1905 * ''Jiuxiella laevigata'' Liu in Zhou et al., 1977 * ''Jiuxiella jiangxiensis'' Zhou et al., 2001 * ''Miboshania corrugata'' Zhang & Zhou in Zhang, 1979 }}

'''''Pytine''''' is an extinct genus of asaphid trilobites. Species lived during the later part of the Arenig stage of the Ordovician Period,<ref name="Sepkoski">{{cite journal| last=Sepkoski |first=J. |title=A compendium of fossil marine animal genera (Trilobita entry) |journal=Bulletins of American Paleontology |volume=364 |page=560 |year=2002 |url=http://strata.ummp.lsa.umich.edu/jack/showgenera.php?taxon=307&rank=class |access-date = 2008-01-12 }}</ref> approximately 478 to 471 million years ago. Various species are found in the Svalbard, Valhallfonna Formation, Olenidsletta, Member, of Spitzbergen, Norway, the ''Megistaspis (Paramegistaspis) planilimbata'' Zone of the <nowiki>'</nowiki>''Shumardia'' Shale<nowiki>'</nowiki> of Sweden, Jujuy Province, Argentina, early Arenig-aged strata of Jiangxi province, China, and Darriwilian-aged strata in Western Hunan province, China. The type species, ''P. graia'', has seven thorax segments, and lacks the rapier-like glabellar spine, that occurs in many other raphiophorids.<ref name="Fortey 1975">{{cite book|last= Fortey|first= R.A.|author-link = Richard Fortey|year= 1975|title= The Ordovician Trilobites of Spitsbergen|trans-title=II. Asaphidae, Nileidae, Raphiophoridae and Telephinidae of the Valhallfonna Formation|series= Norsk Polarinstitutt Skrifter|volume= 162|publisher= Norsk Polarinstitutt|location= Oslo}}</ref> The Chinese species, by contrast, have only six thoracic segments.<ref name=Vaccari /> So far, only the type species, and one of the Chinese species, ''P. laevigata'' (synonym= ''Jiuxiella laevigata''), are known from complete specimens.<ref name=Vaccari />

==Species and synonymy== Richard Fortey erected the genus in 1975 upon describing ''P. graia'' from Spitzbergen. In 1999, Hoel subjectively synonymized a Swedish species of ''Ampyx'', ''A. brevicauda'', into ''Pytine''. The Chinese raphiophorid genera ''Jiuxiella'' and ''Miboshania'' were noted to be anatomically similar to ''P. graia'', and were merged into ''Pytine'', as well. In 2006, N. E. Vaccari described ''P. wirayasqa'' from several fragments from the early Arenig-aged Acoite Formation, of La Ciénaga, Jujuy province, Argentina, together with specimens of another related raphiophorid genus, ''Lehnertia''.

== Etymology == ''Pytine'' is derived from an Ancient Greek word for a wineflask with wattles, referring to the shape and wrinkled texture of the glabellum.<ref name="Fortey 1975"/>

== References == {{Reflist}}

Category:Raphiophoridae Category:Asaphida genera Category:Ordovician trilobites Category:Fossils of Svalbard