| Bathmoceras Temporal range: Middle and Late Ordovician | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Cephalopoda |
| Subclass: | Nautiloidea |
| Order: | † Cyrtocerinida |
| Family: | † Bathmoceratidae |
| Genus: | † Bathmoceras Barrande, 1867 |
Bathmoceras is a primitive cephalopod genus from the Middle and Upper Ordovician. It is a member of the order Cyrtocerinida and is the only genus in the family Bathmoceratidae.
At one time [1] Bathmoceras was thought to have possibly given rise to Polydesmia, once thought to have been the ancestral actinocerid. Since then revision of actinocerid phylogeny and of Ordovician stratigraphy in east Asia have cast doubts on this hypothesis. [2]
Bathmoceras is most likely derived from Eothinoceras through lengthening of the septal necks and of the inward projections of the connecting rings in a forward direction. [3] Eothinoceras differs in that the septal necks are vestigial [3] rather than being somewhat long as in Bathmoceras and that the inward projections of the connecting rings point straight in rather than projecting forward. Both are straight shelled or slightly exogastric. Eothinoceras is also apparently more slender. [3]
Furnish and Glenister also included Eothinceras in the family Bathmoceratidae. [4] R.H. Flower, 1964, separates the two genera into their respective families within the ellesmerocerid suborder Cyrtocerinina, [3] now known as the order Cyrtocerinida.
Bathmoceras is of Middle and Late Ordovician age and has been found in northern and central Europe and in the Macdonnell Ranges in central Australia.
The genus is found in Europe and Australia, mostly as internal molds in sandy sediments. [3] One species B. linnarsoni was found in limestone in Sweden which allowed Holms to conduct thin section studies.
The common occurrence in sandy sediments indicates that Bathmoceras lived over sandy bottom, although some species obviously did spend time over carbonate shelves.
The straight or slightly upwardly curved, exogastric shells with weighted ventral siphuncles indicate a normal horizontal orientation with the aperture facing forward. They were apparently active predators with some degree of mobility. As for the peculiar internal structure of the siphuncle, beyond providing ballast, no reason has been given.
The shells of Bathmoceras are rather large, straight or faintly exogastric. Sutures are simple except for a sharp mid ventral saddle. The siphuncle is large and near the venter, in which the segments have a slightly sinuous outline. Septal necks are rather long. Most diagnostically, the connecting rings are thickened into forward projecting lobes that may extend internally two or three segments within the siphuncle.[ citation needed ]
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.
Plectronocerida is a primitive order from which subsequent cephalopod orders are ultimately derived.
The Ellesmerocerida is an order of primitive cephalopods belonging to the subclass Nautiloidea with a widespread distribution that lived during the Late Cambrian and Ordovician.
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.
Baltoceras is a member of the Ellesmerocerida, included in the family, Baltoceratidae. The shell of Baltoceras is slender with a subcircular cross section, straight transverse sutures, and a large siphuncle in contact with the venter. Septal necks are short but not vestigial; connecting rings are thick; endosiphonal organic deposits are unknown.
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.
Gonioceras is an extinct genus of actinocerid nautiloidean cephalopods typified by a broad, low shell; flattened ventrally, convexly rounded dorsally; top and bottom meeting at an acute angle along the sides. In most the shell is rather thin, especially along the lateral portion. The aperture is contracted. Sutures from broad ventral and dorsal lobes, more narrowly rounded ventro-lateral and dorso-lateral saddles, and sharp pointed lateral lobes; more complex than in later Lambeoceras. The siphuncle is typically subcentral but may be closer to the venter; armenocerid in form with short segments and very short brims and containing a straight endosiphuncular canal system.
Cyrtonybyoceras is a genus of slightly exogastric members of the Wutinoceratidae, a family of actinocerids and probably derived from an earlier Wutinoceras. The shell of Cyrtonybyoceras is curved slightly upwardly and is slightly compressed. Sutures slope toward the aperture, from the dorsum to the venter. The siphuncle is ventral but not marginal, in general form like that of Nybyoceras. Upper and lower septal necks are recumbent or narrowly free. The canal system is reticular, characteristic of the Wutinoceratidae.
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. Septal necks are generally short and cyrtochoanitic, some being recumbent, some hook shaped. Most grew to lengths of about 60 to 90 cm but some, like the Huroniidae of the Silurian grew significantly larger.
The Ellesmeroceratidae constitute a family within the cephalopod order Ellesmerocerida. They lived from the Upper Cambrian to the Lower Ordovician. They are characterized by straight and endogastric shells, often laterally compressed, so the dorso-ventral dimension is slightly greater than the lateral, with close spaced sutures having shallow lateral lobes and a generally large tubular ventro-marginal siphuncle with concave segments and irregularly spaced diaphragms. Connecting rings are thick and layered, externally straight but thickening inwardly with the maximum near the middle of the segment so as to leave concave depressions on internal siphuncle molds. Septal necks are typically orthochoanitic but vary in length from almost absent (achoanitic) to reaching halfway to the previous septum (hemichoanitic) and may even slope inwardly (loxochoanitic).
Baltoceratidae is an extinct family of orthoconic cephalopods belonging to the subclass Nautiloidea endemic to what would be Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America during the Ordovician living from about 480–460 mya, existing for approximately 20 million years.
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.
Macroloxoceras is a large pseuorthocerid from the upper Devonian of Central Colorado and Southern New Mexico with features resembling those found in actinocerids. Pseudorthocerids and actinocerids are extinct nautiloid cephalopods, generally with long straight shells and expanded siphuncle segments filled with organic deposits.
Protcycloceratidae is an extinct family of slender, commonly annulate, members of the cephalopod order Ellesmerocerida that lived during the Early Ordovician.
Tajaroceras is an extinct slender cephalopod from the uppermost Lower Ordovician of western North America, belonging to the Orthocerid family Troedssonellidae.
Ellesmeroceras is the type genus for the Ellesmeroceratidae, a family of primitive nautiloid cephalopods, that is characterized by its small, generally compressed, gradually expanded, orthoconic shell, found in Lower Ordovician marine sediments. The septa are close spaced and the siphuncle is ventral, about 0.2 the diameter of the shell. Septal necks are typically orthochoanitic but may slant inwardly (loxochoanitic) or reach halfway to the previous septum (hemichoanitic). Connecting rings are thick. As common for the Ellesmerocerida, Ellesmeroceras has diaphragms within the siphuncle tube.
Eothinoceratidae is a family of Lower Ordovician nautiloid cephalopods included in the Cyrtocerinida. The family was originally established for the genus Eothinoceras.