Allotrioceras

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Allotrioceras
Temporal range: Middle Ordovician
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Phylum:
Class:
Order:
Family:
Allotrioceratidae
Genus:
Allotrioceras

Flower, 1955

Allotrioceras is a tubular fossil from the Middle Ordovician of the state of New York, collected by Rousseau H. Flower; included by him in the Endocerida and placed in a new family, the Allotrioceratidae. [1] Allotrioceras is characterized by a lateral pair of subequal conical structures, resembling the endocones of endocerids, separated by a straight partition that extends more than half way across from either the dorsal or ventral side, as perceived, and runs along the length. What remains is thought to represent a siphuncle, which ranges from about 8 millimeters (0.3 in) to about 15 millimeters (0.6 in) in diameter. On the basis of diagnosis, inclusion of Allotrioceras and the Allotrioceratidae, for which it is the type, in the endocerida seems at best tentative.

Some endocerids, derived from the Proterocameroceratidae, Najaceras , Cacheoceras , and Williamsoceras , [2] have a longitudinal dorsal or ventral process, or both about which the endocones are formed, which the partitian of Allotrioceras somewhat resembles. In the Chihliocreratidae, also derived from the Proterocameroceratidae, [3] the main endocones are flanked by two smaller endocones, one on each side, superficially resembling Allotrioceras.

The holotype of Allotrioceras, Allotrioceras bifercatum Flower 1955, rests in the collection of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Related Research Articles

Endocerida Fossil order of cephalopods

Endocerida is an extinct nautiloid order, a group of cephalopods from the Lower Paleozoic with cone-like deposits in its siphuncle.

Cameroceras is a genus of extinct, giant orthoconic cephalopod that lived mainly during the Ordovician period. It first appears during the middle Ordovician, around 470 million years ago, and was a fairly common component of the fauna in some places during the period, inhabiting the shallow seas of Laurentia, Baltica and Siberia. Its diversity and abundance became severely reduced following the Ordovician–Silurian extinction events, and the last remnants of the genus went extinct sometime during the Wenlock.

<i>Endoceras</i> Extinct genus of molluscs

Endoceras is an extinct genus of large, straight shelled cephalopods from the Middle and Upper Ordovician that gives its name to the Nautiloid order Endocerida. The cross section in the mature portion is slightly wider than high, but is narrower laterally in the young. Sutures are straight and transverse. Endoceras has a large siphuncle, located close to the ventral margin, composed of concave segments, especially in the young but which may be tubular in the adult stage. Endocones are simple, subcircular in cross section, and penetrated by a narrow tube which may contain diaphragms reminiscent of the Ellesmerocerid ancestor.

Plectronocerida Extinct order of molluscs

Plectronocerida is a primitive order from which subsequent cephalopod orders are ultimately derived.

Proterocameroceratidae Extinct family of nautiloids

The Proterocameroceratidae were the first of the Endocerida. They began early in the Ordovician with Proendoceras or similar genus which had developed endocones, replacing the diaphragms of the ellesmerocerid ancestor.

Piloceratidae Extinct family of nautiloids

The Piloceratidae are a compressed, rapidly expanding, cyrtoconic brevicones with holochoanitic ventral siphuncles and simple endocones. Most likely evolved from Clitendoceras, a narrow, slightly endogastric genus intermediate in form between straight shelled Proendoceras and the bulkier Piloceratidae. Found in shallow carbonate marine sediments of Demingian through the Cassinian age,.

Najaceras is a genus of straight, slender endocerid known only from the Whiterockian age Oil Creek Limestone of Oklahoma, introduced and named by Rousseau Flower in 1971 and further described by him in 1976.

Meniscoceras is a straight and slender Chazyan endocerid described by Rousseau Flower in 1941 The genus was originally included in the Proterocameroceratidae but later placed with its predecessor, Najaceras, in the Najaceratidae.

<i>Nanno</i> (genus) Extinct genus of molluscs

Nanno is an Endocerid, named by Clarke in 1894 for the apical end of an endocerid from the Trenton Limestone of New York state that has the basic description of the nanno type. It is possibly the senior synonym for Proterovaginoceras. As a valid genus, Nanno is included in the Endoceratidae but the nanno type apex may be found in other families.

Clitendoceras is a genus of cephalopods in the order Endocerida from the Lower Ordovician with an elongate shell with a slight downward, endogastric, curvature and a siphuncle that lies along the ventral margin. Common for endocerids, the chambers are short and the septa close spaced with sutures sloping forward across the back of the shell. Septal necks are short in the young, lengthening in the adult. Endocones are simple, but with the ventral side of the last formed projecting forward. The endosiphotube running down the middle is arched on top and somewhat flat on the lower side.

Mcqueenoceras is an extinct genus of early endocerid, a nautilus from the Floian epoch of the late early Ordovician period. It was similar in overall form to Clitendoceras, from which it may have been derived. Mcqueenoceras, like Clitendoceras, has ventral siphuncle but the endocones are thicker on the ventral side and thinner on the dorsal. Also the sutures in Mcqueenoceras retreat rearward, forming lobes as they cross the venter. The type species is Mcqueenoceras jeffersonense, named by E.O. Ulrich and A.F. Foerste in 1935, and it is known from Missouri and New York. In 1956, Rousseau H. Flower named two other species, M. cariniferum and M. ventrale, both known from Maryland.

Williamsoceras is an endocerid that Rousseau Flower (1968) added to his Allotrioceratidae on the basis of having a vertical partition within the siphuncle, known as a ventral process, with inter-connecting tubule-like structures along its margin where intercepted by endocones. Three species are named and described from the Garden City limestone of Whiterockian age near Logan and northern Utah, including the genotype Williamsoceras adnatum. Two other species come from the Juab limestone of near equivalent age in the southern Confusion Range in the Ibex area in western Utah.

Endoceratidae is a family of large to very large straight shelled nautiloid cephalopods belonging to the order Endocerida that lived during the Middle and Late Ordovician. They include the largest known Paleozoic invertebrates, represented by Endoceras and Cameroceras.

Chazyoceras is a moderately large endocerid included in the Endoceratidae with a Nanno type apex and a ventral siphuncle with a holochoanitic wall, characteristic of the family. The siphuncle swelling at the apex is subtriangular in longitudinal profile. The endocones are of medium length.

Triendoceras is a genus of fairly large endocerid named by Flower (1958), included in the Endoceratidae by Teichert (1964), characterized by a holochoanitic ventral siphuncle in which the cross section through the endocones has an opening in the shape of an isosceles triangle with a sharp apex (corner) pointing down. Triendoceras is found in the upper Lower Ordovician of Quebec and New York in North America and possibly in Ohio, and in eastern Europe. The type species is T. montrealense.

Perkinsocerasis an endocerid genus from the Middle Ordovician (Chazyan) of Champlain Valley established by Flower in 1976, which he added to his Allotrioceratidae based on certain similarities to Williamsoceras and Cacheoceras which had been added previously.

Shungtangenoceras is a conical plectronoceratoid cephalopod from the Upper Cambrian of north-eastern China, described by Sun (1937) as a primitive endoceroid. Because of its apparently poor preservation its ordinal and familial position is uncertain. It could be included in either the Plectronocerida, family Plectronoceratidae, or the Ellesmerocerida, family Ellesmeroceratidae. On the other hand, Teichert (1964) included Shungtangendoceras in the Ellesmoerocatidae.

Bajkaloceras is a straight-shelled orthoceroid, and possibly a member of the Intejocerida, from the Angara River basin in central Russia, named by Balashov in 1962. Its age, as given in the Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology is Arenigian.

Discosoridae comprise a family of endogastric discosorids,, with endocones in the siphuncle, ranging from the Middle Silurian to Middle Devonian.

The Allotrioceratidae is a family of Middle Ordovician fossils, established by Rousseau Flower, 1955, originally including Allotrioceras and Mirabilocras, assigned inferentially to the Endocerida and known only from structures interpreted as siphuncles. Later Williamsoceras, Cacheoceras, and Perkinsoceras were added.

References

  1. Rousseau H. Flower, 1955 Status of Endoceroid classification. Journal of Paleontology |Vol29, no3, pp 329–371
  2. Rousseau H. Flower 1976. Some Whiterock and Chazy Endoceroids, Part II Memoir 28 New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources, Socorro, New Mexico
  3. {Rousseau H. Flower 1958. Some Chazyan and Mohawkian Endoceratida, Journal of Paleontology Vol32, no3 pp 433-458