The genus Maranhites is an important Devonian index fossil. The forms with numerous peripherical structures are exclusive of the Upper Devonian up to the Lower Carboniferous. Those forms with less than fifteen peripherical elements, though frequent in the Upper Devonian, are found beginning at the Lower Devonian. The most abundant species, common in the Upper Devonian of all the Brazilian paleozoic basins were already registered, besides other localities, in Southern Ghana and the Algerian Sahara.
