Fossil species within this genus lived during the
Mesozoic era, in the opening South Atlantic, between present-day Brazil and Africa. In the
Triassic of Argentina, Austria, Hungary and Italy fossils have been found. They are found in the
Jurassic of the
Coquina Group,
La Guajira, Colombia among many other places. Of
Campanian age, this genus is widespread as a fossil in
Cameroon,
France,
Poland,
Austria,
Germany and the
United States. Fossils up to the
Neogene have been found in
Belgium, the
United Kingdom, and
Venezuela (
Pliocene Mare and
Playa Grande Formations) and
Miocene Bulgaria,
Chile,
Colombia,
Cyprus, Germany,
India,
Japan,
Malta,
Moldova,
New Zealand,
Panama, Poland,
Russia,
Slovakia,
Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela. Today, only a single species,
P. candida from the
Caribbean is known to be extant. == Species ==