Ammonoids are extinct spiral shelled cephalopods comprising the subclass Ammonoidea. They are more closely related to living coleoids than they are to shelled nautiloids. The earliest ammonoids appeared during the Devonian, with the last species vanishing during or soon after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. They are often called ammonites, which is most frequently used for members of the order Ammonitida, the only remaining group of ammonoids from the Jurassic up until their extinction.
Goniatids, informally goniatites, are ammonoid cephalopods that form the order Goniatitida, derived from the more primitive Agoniatitida during the Middle Devonian some 390 million years ago. Goniatites (goniatitids) survived the Late Devonian extinction to flourish during the Carboniferous and Permian only to become extinct at the end of the Permian some 139 million years later.
Ammonitida or "True ammonites" are an order of ammonoid cephalopods that lived from the Jurassic through Paleocene time periods, commonly with intricate ammonitic sutures.
Stephanoceras is an extinct genus of Stephanoceratoid ammonite which lived during the Bajocian. It is the type genus of the family Stephanoceratidae.
Ancyloceras is an extinct genus of heteromorph ammonites found throughout the world during the Lower Cretaceous, from the Lower Barremian epoch until the genus extinction during the Lower Aptian.
Anahoplites is a genus of rather involute, compressed hoplitid ammonites with flat sides, narrow flat or grooved venters, and flexious ribs or striae arising from weak umbilicle tubercles that end in fine dense ventrolateral nodes. The elements of their sutures are short, wide and jaggedy. Specimens of Annahoplites have diameters typically in the range of 4–6 centimetres (1.6–2.4 in) although some with diameters of as much as 19 centimetres (7.5 in) have been reported. The genus lived during the Cretaceous, from the Middle to the late Albian.
Axonoceras is a genus in the ammonitid family Nostoceratidae proposed by Stephenson in 1941, for "slender shells coiled in a plane with numerous closely spaced ribs and two rows of ventral nodes'...The shells may be closely coiled, though not involute, but most... are more or less loosely and irregularly coiled". Shells may be coplanar or coiled in a low flat spiral with the early whorls in contact, later whorls free.
Griesbachites is a genus of Late Triassic ceratitids included in the Haloritidae, with widespread distribution from the Alps through the Himalaya and Timur to British Columbia.
Desmoceratidae is a family belonging to the ammonite superfamily Desmoceratoidea. They are an extinct group of ammonoids, shelled cephalopods related to squid, belemnites, octopuses, and cuttlefish, and more distantly to the nautiloids, that lived between the Lower Cretaceous and Upper Cretaceous.
Parapuzosia is an extinct genus of desmoceratid ammonites from the Cenomanian to the Campanian of Africa, Europe, and North America. They are typically very large ammonites, reaching diameters of 60 cm (2.0 ft) or more, with the largest species measuring around 2 m (6.6 ft). It possesses a moderately involute shell with flat or slightly rounded sides. Distinct primary and secondary ribbing can be observed in the inner whorls.
Ammonitina comprises a diverse suborder of ammonite cephalopods that lived during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods of the Mesozoic Era. They are excellent index fossils, and it is often possible to link the rock layer in which they are found to specific geological time periods.
Exiteloceras is an ammonite genus from the Late Cretaceous.
Hoploscaphites is an extinct ammonite genus from the Upper Cretaceous and the Lower Paleocene, included in the family Scaphitidae.
Psiloceras is an extinct genus of ammonite. Psiloceras is among the earliest known Jurassic ammonites, and the appearance of the earliest Psiloceras species form the definition for the base of the Jurassic. Unlike most earlier ammonites, which had complex shell shapes and ornamentation, Psiloceras had a smooth shell.
The Haloritidae is a family of subglobular, involute, Triassic ammonoids belonging to the ceratitid superfamily Tropitoidea. Their shells may be smooth or may have ribs that cross or are interrupted on the venter, and may have nodes. Keels and ventral furrows are not typical. The last volution is commonly eccentric. The Suture may be ammonitic, ceratitic, or goniatitic.
Arietitidae is a family of true ammonites that make up part of the superfamily Psiloceratoidea, named after the type genus Arietites. They comprise medium-size to large or gigantic genera which in general are strongly ribbed, tuberculate in some, with keeled or grooved and keeled venters, and well differentiated ammonitic sutures. The aptycus is single valved with a shiny, concentrically striated surface.
Gymnites is a genus of ammonoid cephalopod from the Middle Triassic belonging to the ceratitid family Gymnitidae. These nektonic carnivores lived during the Triassic period, the Anisian age.
Perisphinctidae is a family of Middle and Upper Jurassic discoidal ammonites in the order Ammonitida. They have a shell morphology that is mostly evolute, typically with biplicate, simple, or triplicate ribbing. Large forms have simple apertures and smooth body chambers while small forms have lappets and ribbed body chambers.
Ancyloceratidae is a family of heteromorphic ammonites that lived during the Early Cretaceous. Their shells begin as a loose spiral with whorls not touching which then turns into a straight shaft that ends in a J-shape hook or bend at end. Coarse ribbing and spines are common.
Calycoceras is an extinct genus of cephalopods belonging to the subclass Ammonoidea and family Acanthoceratidae that lived during the Cenomanian stage of the Late Cretaceous, 100-94 Mya. Their shells had ornate ribs.
