Homaloceras

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Homaloceras
Temporal range: M Devonian
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Cephalopoda
Subclass: Nautiloidea
Order: Nautilida
Family: Centroceratidae
Genus: Homaloceras
Whiteavus (1891)

Homaloceras is an extinct nautiloid cephalopod from the Middle Devonian with a strongly curved shell, included in the nautilid family Centroceratidae.

The Devonian is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic, spanning 60 million years from the end of the Silurian, 419.2 million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, 358.9 Mya. It is named after Devon, England, where rocks from this period were first studied.

Nautilida order of molluscs

The Nautilida constitute a large and diverse order of generally coiled nautiloid cephalopods that began in the mid Paleozoic and continues to the present with a single family, the Nautilidae which includes two genera, Nautilus and Allonautilus, with six species. All told, between 22 and 34 families and 165 to 184 genera have been recognised, making this the largest order of the subclass Nautiloidea.

The Centroceratidae is the ancestral family of the Trigonoceratoidea and of the equivalent Centroceratina; extinct shelled cephalopods belonging to the order Nautilida

Homaloceras is characterized by a smooth, exogastrically curved and laterally compressed, cyrtoconic to gyroconic, shell with the ventral margin the outer rim. The venter is narrow and concave with a groove running down the middle; the dorsum on the inner rim, rounded; the sides broadly convex and convergent. The suture is only slightly sinuous, the siphuncle tubular and near the venter. (Kummel 1964)

Siphuncle

The siphuncle is a strand of tissue passing longitudinally through the shell of a cephalopod mollusk. Only cephalopods with chambered shells have siphuncles, such as the extinct ammonites and belemnites, and the living nautiluses, cuttlefish, and Spirula. In the case of the cuttlefish, the siphuncle is indistinct and connects all the small chambers of that animal's highly modified shell; in the other cephalopods it is thread-like and passes through small openings in the walls dividing the chambers.

Homaloceras, named by Whiteavus in 1891, and found in North America, in Canada, is the most primitive and one of the earliest genera assigned to the Centroceratidae. (Kummel 1964)

The Nautiloidea, in which Homaloceras is included, is a subclass of once diverse and numerous shelled cephalopods characterized by a retrochoantic siphuncle in which the septal necks point back toward the apex.

See also

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Tetragonoceras is an extinct prehistoric nautiloid genus from the nautilid family Tetragonoceratidae that lived during the Middle Devonian, found in Canada.

Permoceras, the sole member of the family Permoceratidae, is a genus of coiled nautiloids with a smooth, compressed involute shell, whorls higher than wide, earlier whorls hidden from view. The venter is rounded as are the ventral and umbilical shoulders, the flanks flattened. The siphuncle is ventrally subcentral. The suture, which is most characteristic, has a deep, narrow pointed ventral lobe and large, asymmetrical pointed lobes on either side.

Jovellania is a genus of extinct prehistoric nautiloids from the order Oncocerida known from the Lower Devonian of Europe. Nautiloids form a broad group of shelled cephalopods that were once diverse and numerous but are now represented by only a handful of species in two genera.

<i>Kionoceras</i> genus of molluscs (fossil)

Kionoceras is an extinct nautiloid cephalopod genus included in the orthocerid family Kionoceratidae with scattered worldwide distribution from the Middle Ordovician to the Lower Permian. Kionoceratids are orthocerids with prominent longitudinal ornamentation on their shells, sometimes augmented by secondary transverse ornamenttion. Orthocerids are, of course, prehistoric nautiloides with generally straight and elongate shells, mostly with central or subcentral siphuncles.

Endolobus is an extinct genus from the nautiloid order, Nautilida. Nautiloids are a subclass of shelled cephalopods that were once diverse and numerous but are now represented by only a handful of species, including Nautilus. Endolubus is included in the family Koninckioceratidae which is part of the superfamily Taintocerataceae.

Brevicoceras is an extinct nautiloid genus from the order Oncocerida with wide distribution in the Middle Devonian in Eastern North America, Russia and Morocco. Nautiloids form a broad group of shelled cephalopods that were once diverse and numerous but are now represented by only a handful of species in two genera.

Permonautilus is an extinct genus of nautilids from the Upper Permian of Russia, named and described by Kruglov in 1933. Permonautilus is an involute, globular, spinose member of the Lirocertidae which are included in the Clydonautilaceae. Whorl sections are broad, with a rounded venter. The umbilicus in the middle of the shell is deep, from which spine-like processes extend laterally in the mature portion near the aperture. The siphuncle in Permonautilus is subcentral, the suture, slightly sinuous.

Neocycloceras is an extinct genus of nautiloid included in the Pseudorthocerida that lived during the Late Devonian and Mississippian. Neoclycloceras is characterized by a slender, generally circular shell with slightly oblique,sinuous surficial annulations. Its sutures have dorsal and ventral saddles and lateral lobes and become more oblique with age. Saddles point forward, lobes to the rear. Dorsal saddles are broad and low but the ventral ones are high and conspicuous. The siphuncle is located between the center and venter and is nummuloidal, composed of rounded expanded segments, the inside of which contains a continuous laminar lining that is thickest in the middle of the segments and thinnest at the septal necks. Neocycloceras has been found in Pennsylvania in North America and in Morocco in north Africa.

Winnipegoceras is an extinct nautiloid genus from the Ordovician belonging to the Order Discosorida.

Zittelloceras is an extinct genus of nauiloids from the order Oncocerida which are among a large group of once diverse and numerous shelled cephalopods, now represented by only a handful of species.

Tetrapleuroceras is an extinct prehistoric nautiloid from the Lower Permian of the Urals in Russia. Nautilids are a type of nautiloid, a subclass of shelled cephalopods that were once diverse and numerous but now only represented by Nautilus and Allonautilus

Tithonoceras is a genus of nautiloid cephalopod from the Upper Jurassic found in the Crimea, belonging to the nautilacean family Paracenoceratidae.

Valhallites is an extinct genus in the nautiloid order Nautilida which includes the living Nautilus found in the tropical western Pacifiic. Valhalites belongs to the Koninckioceratidae, a family in the Tainoceratacea, a nautilid superfamily.

Tylonautilus is an extinct genus in the nautiloid order Nautilida from the Lower Carboniferous of Europe and Permian of Japan.

Heminautilus is an extinct genus of nautiloids from the nautilacean family Cenoceratidae that lived during the Early Cretaceous. Fossils of Heminautilus have been registered in rocks of Aptian age. Nautiloids are a subclass of shelled cephalopods that were once diverse and numerous but are now represented by only a handful of species.

Triboloceras is the name given to an extinct nautiloid genus from the Lower Carboniferous (Mississippian), included in the nautilid family Trigonoceratidae characterized by an evolute shell bearing longitudinal ribs, with whorls in contact except in the early and very latest growth stages. Chambers are short, sutures tend for form ventral and in some cases dorsal and lateral lobes. The siphuncle is small, tubular, and subcentral.

Trigonoceratoidea superfamily of molluscs

The Trigonoceratoidea are a superfamily within the Nautilida that ranged from the Devonian to the Triassic, thought to have contained the source for the Nautilaceae in which Nautilus is found.

The Tripteroceratidae is a family of depressed, straight to slightly curved nautiloid cephalopods from the middle and upper Ordovician with generally flattened venters and empty siphuncles with straight to inflated sedments included in the Oncocerida.

References

The Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology published by the Geological Society of America and the University of Kansas Press, is a definitive multi-authored work of some 50 volumes, written by more than 300 paleontologists, and covering every phylum, class, order, family, and genus of fossil and extant invertebrate animals. The prehistoric invertebrates are described as to their taxonomy, morphology, paleoecology, stratigraphic and paleogeographic range. However, genera with no fossil record whatsoever have just a very brief listing.