Subclass Coleoidea, or Dibranchiata, is the grouping of cephalopods containing all the various taxa popularly thought of as "soft-bodied" or "shell-less". Unlike its extant sister group, Nautiloidea, whose members have a rigid outer shell for protection, the coleoids have at most an internal cuttlebone, gladius, or shell that is used for buoyancy or support. Some species have lost their cuttlebone altogether, while in some it has been replaced by a chitinous support structure. A unique trait of the group is the ability to edit their own RNA.
Nautiloids are a group of marine cephalopods (Mollusca) which originated in the Late Cambrian and are represented today by the living Nautilus and Allonautilus. Fossil nautiloids are diverse and speciose, with over 2,500 recorded species. They flourished during the early Paleozoic era, when they constituted the main predatory animals. Early in their evolution, nautiloids developed an extraordinary diversity of shell shapes, including coiled morphologies and giant straight-shelled forms (orthocones). Only a handful of rare coiled species, the nautiluses, survive to the present day.
Lituites is an extinct nautiloid genus from the Middle Ordovician and type for the Lituitidae that in some more recent taxonomies has been classified with the orthocerids and listed under the order Lituitida. Fossils have been found in New York, Argentina, Norway, Sweden, Estonia, and China.
Orthoceratidae is an extinct family of actively mobile carnivorous cephalopods, subclass Nautiloidea, that lived in what would be North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia from the Ordovician through Triassic from 490—203.7 mya, existing for approximately 286.4 million years.
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.
Goniatitina is one of two suborders included in the order Goniatitida; extinct Paleozoic ammonoid cephalopods only distantly related to the Nautiloidea.
The Oncocerida comprise a diverse group of generally small nautiloid cephalopods known from the Middle Ordovician to the Mississippian, in which the connecting rings are thin and siphuncle segments are variably expanded. At present the order consists of some 16 families, a few of which, such as the Oncoceratidae, Brevicoceratidae, and Acleistoceratidae contain a fair number of genera each while others like the Trimeroceratidae and Archiacoceratidae are represented by only two or three.
Aturia is an extinct genus of Paleocene to Miocene nautilids within Aturiidae, a monotypic family, established by Campman in 1857 for Aturia Bronn, 1838, and is included in the superfamily Nautilaceae in Kümmel 1964.
The Acleistoceratidae is a family of oncocerids that contains genera characterized by depressed exogastric brevicones and cyrtocones that range from the Middle Silurian to the Middle Devonian. The siphuncle is broadly expanded, and in some actinosiphonate.
The Brevicoceratidae is a family of oncocerids that contains genera characterized by exogastric gyrocones, brevicones, and torticones. that tend to develop vestigial actinosiphonate deposits and subtriangular transverse sections. The Brevicoceratidae are derived from Oonoceras (Oncoceratidae) and range from the mid-Silurian to the Upper Devonian.
Spyroceras is a genus of pseudorthocerids from the Devonian of North America and Europe, defined by Alpheus Hyatt in 1884. Pseudorthocerids are a kind of orthocertaoid, a taxonomic group within the Nautiloidea. Specifically Spyroceras belongs to the pseudorthocerid family, Spyroceratidae.
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.
Orthoceratoidea is a major subclass of nautiloid cephalopods. Members of this subclass usually have orthoconic (straight) to slightly cyrtoconic (curved) shells, and central to subcentral siphuncles which may bear internal deposits. Orthoceratoids are also characterized by dorsomyarian muscle scars, extensive cameral deposits, and calciosiphonate connecting rings with a porous and calcitic inner layer.
The Bassleroceratidae is a family of gradually expanding, smooth ellesmerocerids with a slight to moderate exogastric curvature, subcircular to strongly compressed cross section, and ventral orthochaonitc siphuncle. The ventral side is typically more sharply rounded than the dorsal side and septa are close spaced. Connecting rings are thick and slightly expanded into the siphuncle, making the segments slightly concave; characteristic of the Ellesmerocerida.
Rutoceratidae is a family of prototypical nautilids, derived probably from either Brevicoceratidae or Acleistoceratidae of the order Oncocerida early in the Devonian. Rutoceratidae comprise a family within the oncocerid superfamily Tainocerataceae They are generally characterized by cyrtoconic and gyroconic shells, commonly with spines, nodes, or frills, although some included genera are almost orthoconic, and a commonly empty, tubular ventral siphuncle.
Syringonautilidae is a family of Nautiloidea from the middle to late Triassic. Syringonautilidae comprise the last of the Trigonoceratoidea and are the source for the Nautilaceae which continued the Nautiloidea through the Mesozoic and into the Cenozoic right down to the recent. Syringonautilidae is a strictly Triassic family, derived early in the Triassic from the Grypoceratidae.
The Valcouroceratidae is a family within the Oncocerida, nautiloid cephalopods from the middle and upper Ordovician, established by Rousseau Flower in 1945.
The Nautilitoidea is a superorder within the subclass Nautiloidea, comprising the phylogenetically related Nautilida, Oncocerida, and Tarphycerida.
Geisonoceras is an extinct orthocerid genus named by Hyatt, 1884, and type for the Geisonoceratidae established by Zhuravleva in 1959.
Kiaeroceras is a slender, nearly stright shelled, cyrogomphoceratid (Nautiloidea-Discosorida) from the Upper Ordovician of northern Europe. The cross section of the shell is compressed, height greater than width. The body chamber is slightly contracted so as to narrow toward the aperture, which in some is slightly flared. The venter, narrowly rounded. The siphuncle is close to the venter, septal necks short, connecting rings thick, bullettes prominent.
