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. The species P. boweni was named after the English chemist and geologist E. J. Bowen (1898âÂÂ1980).
The genus name Perisphinctes is derived from the greek prefix peri- (ÃÂõÃÂï), meaning "around," and sphinctes (from ÃÂÃÂïóóÃÂ, sphingà Â, "to bind tightly"), referring to the tightly coiled ammonite shell.
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.