Archimedes

Archimedes is a genus of bryozoan that live from the early Carboniferous to the late Permian of Europe, North America, Asia, and Australia. The genus gets its name from its corkscrew shape, which bears resemblance to Archimedes' Screw, a water pump named after the Greek polymath Archimedes who was the first to describe the pump. The corkscrew shape is the axial support column, which would support fronds that would extend outwards from it. Because fossils of Archimedes are often fragmentary and rarely have the fronds still attached, scientists have interpreted the colonies of the genus as having been fragile and easy to break. Like many other bryozoans, Archimedes was a colonial animal and individual zooids would have lined the holes in the fronds.