Actinocerida

Last updated

Actinocerida
Temporal range: Lower Ordovician–Devonian
Actinocerida.png
General form of an Actinocerid
The holotype of Actinoceras beloitense from Wisconsin.jpg
The holotype specimen of Actinoceras beloitense in UW–Madison Geology Museum
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Cephalopoda
Subclass: Nautiloidea
Order: Actinocerida
Teichert, 1933

The Actinocerida are an order of generally straight, medium to large cephalopods that lived during the early and middle Paleozoic, distinguished by a siphuncle composed of expanded segments that extend into the adjacent chambers, in which deposits formed within contain a system of radial canals and a narrow space along the inner side of the connecting ring known as a paraspatium. (Teichert 1964) Septal necks are generally short and cyrtochoanitic, some being recumbent, some hook shaped. Most grew to lengths of about 60 to 90 cm (2.0 to 3.0 ft) but some, like the Huroniidae of the Silurian grew significantly larger.

Contents

Ecology

The Actinocerida inhabited shallow to quite deep waters, where they alternated between swimming and lying on the bottom. They were predatory, and able to control their buoyancy to a greater degree than their contemporaries. [1]

Derivation

The derivation of the Actinocerida remains enigmatic. They first appear late in the Early Ordovician (Cassinian Stage, late Floian) with the Georginidae but don't become well established until the beginning of the early Whiterockian Stage (Dapingian) of the Middle Ordovician (Flower 1868,1976) The Georginidae, introduced and described by Mary Wade in 1977 (Wade 1988), based on the genus Georgina, are known from the upper Canadian Coolibah Formation of the Georgina Basin in Northern Australia. How the Georginidae relate to older stocks is unclear. The Upper Cambrian Protactinocerida have been suggested as being ancestral but none are known to have gone beyond the near end of the Cambrian extinction, which makes any connection hypothetical.

Polydesmia was once thought to be the ancestral form of the actinocerids, and was derived from the ellesmeroceriid Bathmoceras . [2] However, it turned out based on a reassessment of Lower Ordovician and Whiterockian formations in northeastern China that Polydesmia is antedated by Wutinoceras , [3] its assumed primitive nature rather a derived condition.

Evolution and diversification

Actinocerids first appeared early in the Middle Ordovician, with the exception of the Georginidae, which are known from the Cassinian in Northern Australia. They reached their greatest diversity in the Middle Ordovician with more than 20 genera, then declined somewhat in the Late Ordovician and more so in the Early Silurian; made a slight come back in the Middle Silurian but not to Late Ordovician numbers; and declined more or less steadily from the Late Silurian into the Devonian.

Three major lineages began the Middle Ordovician, the Actinoceratidae, Armenoceratidae, and Ormoceratidae. The Actinoceratidae and Armenoceratidae are most likely derived from Wutinoceras and the Ormoceratidae from a second wutinocerid genus, Adamsoceras . Gonioceras is an offshoot of an early Armenoceras; Lambeoceras and Huronia are offshoots of a later Actinoceras . [2]

The Actinoceratidae extend into the Lower Silurian with Actinoceras; the Armenoceratidae and Huroniidae extend into the Upper Silurian. The Ormoceratidae are possibly the most recent, extending into the Lower Devonian Gonioceras (Gonioceratidae) is limited to the Middle Ordovician, its quasi-lookalike Lambeoceras (Lamberoceratidae) to the uppermost Middle and Upper Ordovician. The wutinocerids are known only from the early Middle Ordovician (Whiterockian) and the polydesmiadids are restricted to about that time.

Originating in the Ordovician, by the Devonian period actinocerids became rare; perhaps they were unable to compete with the more compact and maneuverable coiled nautiloids and ammonoids and cope with the arrival of jawed fish.

Classification and taxonomy

The Actinocerida contain nine families; the Georginidae, Wutinoceratidae, Polydesmiidae, Armenoceratidae, Ormoceratidae, Actinoceratidae, Gonioceratidae, Lambeoceratide, and Huroniidae. The Carbactinoceratidae, included in the taxonomy in the Treatise, (Vol K) have been removed to the Pseudorthocerida. [4]

Georginidae, Wade 1977; late E- early M Ord., Aust, Asia; Georgina , Mesaktoceras
Wutinoceratidae, Shimazu and Obata, 1938, ?late E - early M Ord (Whiterock); Asia, Aunt N Am. N Eur. Wutinoceras, Cyrtonybyoceras, Adamsoceras , ........
Polydesmiidae, Kobayashi 1940; ?late E- M Ord, C and E Asia; Polydesmia , Ordoceras
Actinoceratidae, Seamann 1853, ?late E, M Ord - E Sil. Actinoceras , Kochoceras, Paractinoceras, Saffordoceras, Troostoceras
Lambeoceratidae; Lambeoceras ,
Huroniidae, Huronia , Huroniella , ? Discoactinoceras .
Armenoceratidae, Troedsson 1926; early M Ord - Sil. Armenoceras , Nybyoceras, Selkirkoceras, Elrodoceras
Gonioceratidae, late Mid Ord, N Am. Gonioceras (from early Armenoceratid)
Ormoceratidae, Seamann 1853, Ormoceras , Metarmenoceras, Parormoceras, Troedssonoceras........

Related Research Articles

Huronia is an actinocerid genus included in the Huroniidae along with Discoactinoceras and Huroniella,(Teichert 1964). Huronia is characterized by long siphuncle segments with the free part of the connecting rings only slightly inflated and by a narrow central canal and strongly curved radial canals located in the anterior part of each siphuncle segment

Discosorida are an order of cephalopods that lived from the beginning of the Middle Ordovician, through the Silurian, and into the Devonian. Discosorids are unique in the structure and formation of the siphuncle, the tube that runs through and connects the camerae (chambers) in cephalopods, which unlike those in other orders is zoned longitudinally along the segments rather than laterally. Siphuncle structure indicated that the Discosorida evolved directly from the Plectronoceratida rather than through the more developed Ellesmerocerida, as did the other orders. Finally and most diagnostic, discosorids developed a reinforcing, grommet-like structure in the septal opening of the siphuncle known as the bullette, formed by a thickening of the connecting ring as it draped around the folded back septal neck.

Actinoceras is the principal and root genus of the Actinoceratidae, a major family in the Actinocerida, that lived during the Middle and Late Ordovician. It is an extinct genus of nautiloid cephalopod that thrived in the warm waters of the United States and England during the Paleozoic era.

Lambeoceras is a genus of large actinocerids with a convexly lenticular cross section from the Upper Ordovician of North America and the sole representative of the family Lambeoceratidae.

Armenoceras is a genus of actinocerid nautiloid cephalopods whose fossils ranged from the late Whiterockian Stage in the early Middle Ordovician, through the remainder of the period and on into the Upper Silurian. It is the type genus of the family Armenoceratidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oncocerida</span> Extinct order of nautiloids

The Oncocerida comprise a diverse group of generally small nautiloid cephalopods known from the Middle Ordovician to the Mississippian, in which the connecting rings are thin and siphuncle segments are variably expanded. At present the order consists of some 16 families, a few of which, such as the Oncoceratidae, Brevicoceratidae, and Acleistoceratidae contain a fair number of genera each while others like the Trimeroceratidae and Archiacoceratidae are represented by only two or three.

Clarkoceras is a genus of breviconic ellesmerocerid cephalopods, one of only two genera known to have crossed from the Late Cambrian, Trempealeauan, into the Early Ordovician, Gasconadian. ; the other being Ectenolites.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tarphycerida</span> Extinct order of molluscs

The Tarphycerida were the first of the coiled cephalopods, found in marine sediments from the Lower Ordovician to the Middle Devonian. Some, such as Aphetoceras and Estonioceras, are loosely coiled and gyroconic; others, such as Campbelloceras, Tarphyceras, and Trocholites, are tightly coiled, but evolute with all whorls showing. The body chamber of tarphycerids is typically long and tubular, as much as half the length of the containing whorl in most, greater than in the Silurian Ophidioceratidae. The Tarphycerida evolved from the elongated, compressed, exogastric Bassleroceratidae, probably Bassleroceras, around the end of the Gasconadian through forms like Aphetoceras. Close coiling developed rather quickly, and both gyroconic and evolute forms are found in the early middle Canadian.

Hoeloceras is an extinct orthoconic nautiloid cephalopod from the upper Ordovician, generally included in the Actinocerida. Nautiloids are a subclass of shelled cephalopods that were once diverse and numerous but are now represented by only a couple of genera, Nautilus and Allonautilus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geisonoceratidae</span> Extinct family of cephalopod molluscs

Geisonoceratidae is an extinct family of orthoceroid cephalopods endemic to what would be Asia, Europe, and North America from the Middle Ordovician to the Middle Devonian living from about 470—380 mya, existing for approximately 90 million years. With the possible addition of an Early Cretaceous orthocerid from the western Caucasus the range of this group increases dramatically to some 350 million years, thus making it one of the longest lived families of the Nautiloidea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dawsonoceratidae</span>

Dawsonoceratidae is an extinct family of orthoconic nautiloid cephalopods that lived in what would be North America and Europe from the Late Ordovician through the Middle Devonian from about 480–390 mya, existing for approximately 90 million years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orthoceratoidea</span> Extinct subclass of cephalopods

Orthoceratoidea is a major subclass of nautiloid cephalopods. Members of this subclass usually have orthoconic (straight) to slightly cyrtoconic (curved) shells, and central to subcentral siphuncles which may bear internal deposits. Orthoceratoids are also characterized by dorsomyarian muscle scars, extensive cameral deposits, and calciosiphonate connecting rings with a porous and calcitic inner layer.

The Wutinoceratidae are a family of early actinocerids defined by Shimazu and Obata in 1938 for actinocerids with thick connecting rings and a complex irregular canal system. Actinocerids are generally straight shelled nautiloid cephalopods with a siphuncle composed of expanded segments, typically with thin connecting rings, in which the internal deposits are penetrated by a system of canals.

The Actinoceriatidae are a family of actinocerids named by Saemann in 1853 for those that grew to have large shells with blunt apices and large siphuncles with widely expanded segments and a generally arcuate endosiphucular canal system. Their range is from the upper Middle Ordovician to the Lower Silurian. Actinocerids are generally straight-shelled nautiloid cephalopods with a siphuncle composed of expanded segments, typically with thin connecting rings, in which the internal deposits are penetrated by a system of canals

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armenoceratidae</span> Extinct family of molluscs

The Armenoceratidae are a family of early Paleozoic nautiloid cephalopods belonging to the order Actinocerida.

Wutinoceras is a genus of now extinct nautiloid cephalopods of the Wutinoceratidae family. It exhibits orthoconic actinocerids with ventral siphuncles composed of broadly expanded segments.

Nybyoceras is an actinocerid genus assigned to the Armenoceratidae and similar to Armenoceras except for having a siphuncle close to the ventral side of the shell.

The Cassinian is the latest age of the Canadian Epoch when thought of temporally and the uppermost stage of the Canadian Series when thought of stratigraphically. The Canadian, either as a series or as an Epoch is the name that has been given to the Lower, or Early, Ordovician in North America and has been applied worldwide.

The Whiterockian, often referred to simply as the Whiterock, is an earliest or lowermost stage of the Middle Ordovician. Although the Whiterockian or Whiterock Stage refers mainly to the early Middle Ordovician in North America, it is often used in the older literature in a global sense.

Kochoceras is an extinct nautiloid genus from the later Ordovician belonging to the family Actinoceratidae and found in North America.

References

  1. Kroger, B; Yun-Bai, Zhang (2008). "Pulsed cephalopod diversification during the Ordovician". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 273 (1–2): 174–183. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2008.12.015.
  2. 1 2 Flower, R.H. 1968, The First Great Expansion of the Actinoceroids, Memoir 19,Part I; New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources, Socorro, NM
  3. Flower, R.H. 1976, New American Wutinoceratidae with Review of Actinoceroid Occurrences in Eastern Hemisphere, Memoir 28 Part I; New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources, Socorro, NM
  4. Kröger, B. and Mapes, R. 2007; Carboniferous Actinoceratoid Nautiloidea (Cephalopods) - A New Perspective; Journal of Paleontology; July 2007; v. 81; no. 4; p. 714-724

Further reading