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Bellerophon
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Bellerophon

fossil gastropod
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Bellerophon, extinct genus of gastropods (snails) found as fossils in rocks from the Ordovician Period (488 million to 444 million years ago) to the Triassic Period (251 million to 200 million years ago). Bellerophon is characteristic of the bellerophontids, a large group of snails. The shell of Bellerophon was primitive in that it was coiled with the midline in a single plane; the upper half of the shell was the mirror image of the lower half. In Bellerophon, growth lines angled away from a raised ridge along the midline of the shell. The anterior margins of the shell were flared outward, and they were separated by a narrow slit, called the selenizone.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Richard Pallardy.