Cupitheca

{{Short description|Extinct genus of shelled animals}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| taxon = Cupitheca

}}

Cupitheca is a genus of Cambrian hyolith with the unusual distinction of shedding the apex of its camerate conical shell. As with Triplicatella and Hyptiotheca, its designation to the hyolithids or orthothecids is not straightforward, exhibiting as it does a mixture of the characters that would normally demark the two subtaxa of Hyolitha.{{Cite journal|title=The operculum and mode of life of the lower Cambrian hyolith Cupitheca from South Australia and North China.|journal= Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology|volume= 443|pages= 123–130|year=2016|bibcode= 2016PPP...443..123S|last1= Skovsted|first1= Christian B.|last2= Pan|first2= Bing|last3= Topper|first3= Timothy P.|last4= Betts|first4= Marissa J.|last5= Li|first5= Guoxiang|last6= Brock|first6= Glenn A.|doi= 10.1016/j.palaeo.2015.11.042|url= http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:nrm:diva-1812}}