Lambeoceras

Last updated

Lambeoceras
Temporal range: Upper Ordovician
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Phylum:
Class:
Subclass:
Order:
Family:
Lambeoceratidae
Genus:
Lambeoceras

Foeste, 1917

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.

Contents

Morphological description

Lambeoceras is of medium to moderately large size with a long, straight, depressed shell, broad in cross section with the dorsum and venter both about equally convex, meeting acutely along the sides. Chambers are short, and septa are closely spaced, forming broad lobes on the upper and lower sides, which meet in sharp saddles along the sides. The siphuncle is submarginal, near the ventral side and relatively narrow. Septal necks are extremely long, brims short and recumbent. Segments are broadly expanded, connecting rings thin. Radial canals within the siphuncle from broad arcs that may bifurcate close to the parispatium.

Derivation and phylogeny

Lambeoceras is derived from the same stock in Actinoceras that produced Kochoceras according to Flower (1968), although consideration had been given to Armenoceras in Flower (1957). Teichert (1964) on the other hand, in the Treatise, thought that Lambeoceras was derived from Gonioceras and included it in the Gonioceratidae. Kochoceras differs from Lambeoceras in having a flattened venter and a siphuncle that rests on the ventral side and is closely allied with Actinoceras (Flower 1957)

Distribution

Lambeoceras is found with Actinoceras, Armenoceras, and Nybyoceras in the Second Value Formation in New Mexico; with Armenoceras and Selkirkoceras in the Burnam Limestone in central Texas; with Actinoceras, Paractinoceras, and Kochoceras in the Lander Sandstone in Wyoming, and with Armenoceras. Actinoceras, and Selkirkoceras in the overlying dolomite – all of Red River age, marking the transition between the Middle and Upper Ordovician. Lambeoceras is also found with Actinoceras in the Dog Head member of the Red River Series in Manitoba and with Actinoceras and Kochoceras in the Mt. Silliman beds on Baffin Island.

Paleoecology

While the earlier Gonioceras no doubt rested on the sea floor in ambush, perhaps half buried or more in sediment, Lambeoceras may have more actively hunted in the water close to but above. On the other hand, Lambeoceras ' shape may have had more to do with stabilization in shallow surge ridden waters than with hunting methods. [ citation needed ]

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Murrayoceras is a nautilid cephalopod included in the orthocerid family Baltoceratidae, widespread in the Middle Ordovician of North America, characterized by a depressed orthoconic shell with a subtriangular cross section and flattened venter and a proportionally large ventral siphuncle, 0.15 to 0.3 the dorso-ventral shell diameter. Septa are close spaced with sutures forming broad lobes on the upper flanks and ventral surface.

Reedsoceras is a genus of large discosorids (Nautiloidea) in the family Westonoceratidae from the middle and upper Ordovician of North America.

Simardoceras is a genus in the discosorid family Westonoceratidae from the Middle Ordovician of Quebec.

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

Troostoceras is a genus of actinoceratid nautiloids with a cyrtoconic shell, otherwise similar to Actinoceras. The shell is slightly endogastric, curved such that the under or ventral side is longitudinally concave, tucked in. The siphuncle is ventral and is in contact with the shell wall. Segments begin small but expand during growth.

References