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Broadest category
Most useful name for describing fossils
Detailed category
Phylum Class Order Genus Species
As a result, the vast majority of fossils are those of marine life. That is why most of the descriptions that will follow are of marine forms rather than of land- based life, such as insects (which are very fragile and rarely preserved) or dinosaurs, whose bones are rarely found and are even more rarely found together in a condition that allows them to be identified.
Here, then, are some of the more common levels of classification used. The most useful working description is the genus.
Examples:
Phylum Mollusca
Class Cephalopoda (subclass ammonoidea) Order Goniatitida
Genus Goniatites
Species Goniatites globostriatus
Phylum Cnidaria
Class Anthozoa (subclass tabulata) Order Halysitida
Genus Halysites
Species Halysites catenularius
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Phylum Bryozoa
Class Stenolaemata Order Cryptostomata Genus Fenestella Species Fenestella plebeia