Pipiscius

{{Short description|Extinct genus of lampreys}}

{{Speciesbox

| fossil_range = Moscovian (Middle) Pennsylvanian Epoch,
Carboniferous Period

| image = Pipiscius zangerli.jpg

| genus = Pipiscius

| parent_authority = Bardack & Richardson, 1977

| species = zangerli

| authority = Bardack & Richardson, 1977

}}

Pipiscius is an extinct genus of lamprey that lived about 300 million years ago, during the Middle Pennsylvanian Epoch of the Carboniferous Period. The genus contains a single species, P. zangerli, known from the Mazon Creek fossil beds located in present-day Illinois.{{cite journal|doi=10.5962/bhl.title.5167|title=New agnathous fishes from the Pennsylvanian of Illinois |year=1977|last1=Bardack|first1=David.|last2=Richardson|first2=Eugene Stanley |volume=3 |issue=26 |publisher=Field Museum of Natural History |doi-access=free |journal=Fieldiana |pages=489–510}}

It has a distinctive crown-like mouth comprising a ring of radially arranged teeth.{{cite journal|doi=10.1038/23445|year=1999|last1=Shu|first1=D.|journal=Nature|volume=400|issue=6746|pages=746|last2=Conway Morris|first2=S.|last3=Zhang|first3=X-L.|last4=Chen|first4=L.|last5=Li|first5=Y.|last6=Han|first6=J.|title=A pipiscid-like fossil from the Lower Cambrian of south China|bibcode=1999Natur.400..746S |s2cid=204995356 }} However, some specimens assigned to the coeval lamprey Mayomyzon, also found in the Mazon Creek beds, also have similar mouthparts. Since Pipiscius does not have many any other defining features, it has been suggested that the two genera are synonymous, with the name Mayomyzon having priority. {{Cite journal |last1=Gabbott |first1=Sarah E. |last2=Sansom |first2=Robert S. |last3=Purnell |first3=Mark A. |date=2021-08-24 |editor-last=Lomax |editor-first=Barry |title=Systematic analysis of exceptionally preserved fossils: correlated patterns of decay and preservation |journal=Palaeontology |language=en |volume=64 |issue=6 |pages=789–803 |doi=10.1111/pala.12571 |issn=0031-0239}}

Fossil collectors have nicknamed Pipiscius the “Push me-Pull you” in reference to each end being very similar in shape.{{cite book |last1=Wittry |first1=Jack |title=The Mazon creek fossil fauna |date=2012 |publisher=Esconi |location=Downers Grove, Ill |isbn=978-0578111483}}