Perisphinctes is an extinct genus of ammonite cephalopod. They lived during the Middle to Late Jurassic epochs and serve as an index fossil for that time period.Index Fossils, United States Geological Service, USA. The species P. boweni was named after the English chemist and geologist E. J. Bowen (1898–1980).
Etymology The genus name Perisphinctes is derived from the greek prefix peri- (περί), meaning "around," and sphinctes (from σφίγγω, sphingō, "to bind tightly"), referring to the tightly coiled ammonite shell.
Distribution Cephalopods of species belonging to this genus have been found in the Jurassic of Antarctica, Argentina, Chile, Cuba, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Iran, Italy, Japan, Madagascar, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Yemen.
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