Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Protostomia
Cladus: Spiralia
Cladus: Lophotrochozoa
Phylum: Mollusca
Classis: Cephalopoda
Subclassis: † Ammonoidea
Ordo: †Goniatitida
Subordo: Tornoceratatina
Superfamilia: Prionocerataceae
Familia: † Prionoceratidae
Subfamilia: Balviinae
Genus: Balvia
Name
Balvia Lange, 1929
References
The Paleobiology Database Accessed 11/21/08
Balvia is an ammonoid cephalopod genus from the Upper Devonian belonging to the goniatitid family Prionoceratidae.
Balvia has a small, lenticular to subglobular shell with a punctate umbilicus, that is completely involute. Growth lines are fine, forward slanting, concavo-convex; indicate well developed ventrolateral salients and hyponomic sinus. Flanks have several weak constrictions, which usually swing forward at venter to form grooves bounding a median keel. The aperture may be modified.
Balvia was named by Dieter Korn in 1994 with the redescription of the type species, Gattendorfia globularis originally described by Schmidt in 1924. The genus was further divided into the subgenera B.(Balvia), B. (Mayneoceras), and B.(Kenseyoceras) by Becker in 1996.
References
Saunders et al 1999 Evolution of Complexity in Paleozoic Ammonoid Sutures; Supplementary Material. Science Mag.
Balvia in Goniat
The Paleobiology Database accessed 10/01/07
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