| Lituitidae | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Cephalopoda |
| Subclass: | Nautiloidea |
| Order: | † Tarphycerida |
| Family: | † Lituitidae |
The Lituitidae are a family of evolved tarphycerids characterized by a long orthoconic section that follows a coiled juvenile portion at the apex, along with a generally tubular siphuncle, which like that of the barrandeocerids is composed of thin connecting rings.
Flower and Kummel (1950) [1] included the Lituitidae in the Barranderocerida which are now included in the Tarphycerida as a number of derived families. Furnish and Glenister (1964) [2] removed the Lituitidae to the Tarphycerida on the basis of observed similarities in the structure of the siphuncle. Other taxonomies, e.g. Dzik (1981) [3] include the Lituitidae in the Orthocerida partly on the basis of the subcentral siphuncle and thin connecting rings, on the misconception that Rhynchorthoceras is ancestral.
The Lituitidae comprise two basic groups, based on general form. One is represented by Ancistroceras and Holmiceras and probably includes Angelinoceras . The other is represented by Litoceras , which first appears later in the early Middle Ordovician. [2]
The coiled juvenile portions of the Lituitidae are characterized by a deep hyponomic sinus and lateral salients at the aperture, indicating a high degree of mobility. The orthoconic adult portions are characterized by a shallow hyponomic sinus as in Ancistroceras indicating a more passive lifestyle, or a complex aperture with lappets as in Litoceras. [2]
The earliest known lituitids are Ancistroceras and Holmiceras [2] which made their first appearances in the latter part of the Early Ordovician, well before Rhynchorthoceras. The precise ancestry for either is unknown, although evolutionary possibilities can be found in various tarphyceratid and trocholitid genera. [2] The tendency for the adult tarphycerid shell to unwind, or straighten out, is well documented. This even occurs in some ammonoids, in the ammonitid Bacultidae and in the ceratitid Choristoceratidae. [4] Nowhere is there any direct evidence of orthoconic forms developing coiling at their apexes [5] nor does any obvious advantage exist for them to have done so.
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.
The Ascocerida are comparatively small, bizarre Orthoceratoids known only from Ordovician and Silurian sediments in Europe and North America, uniquely characterized by a deciduous conch consisting of a longiconic juvenile portion and an inflated breviconic adult portion that separate sometime in maturity.
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.
The Tarphycerida were the first of the coiled cephalopods, found in marine sediments from the Lower Ordovician to the Middle Devonian. Some, such as Aphetoceras and Estonioceras, are loosely coiled and gyroconic; others, such as Campbelloceras, Tarphyceras, and Trocholites, are tightly coiled, but evolute with all whorls showing. The body chamber of tarphycerids is typically long and tubular, as much as half the length of the containing whorl in most, greater than in the Silurian Ophidioceratidae. The Tarphycerida evolved from the elongated, compressed, exogastric Bassleroceratidae, probably Bassleroceras, around the end of the Gasconadian through forms like Aphetoceras. Close coiling developed rather quickly, and both gyroconic and evolute forms are found in the early middle Canadian.
Lituitida is an order of orthoceratoid cephalopods. They correspond to the family Lituitidae of the Treatise, reranked as an order and combined with other orthoceratoids. They are considered to be more closely related to the Orthocerida than to the Ascocerida or Pseudorthocerida which are also included.
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).
The Reudemannoceratidae are the ancestral and most primitive of the Discosorida, an order of cephalopods from the early Paleozoic. The Reudemannoceratidae produced generally medium-sized endogastric and almost straight shells with the siphuncle slightly ventral from the center.
Pseudorthocerida is an order of generally straight longiconic orthoceratoids with a subcentral to marginal cyrtochoanitic siphuncle composed of variably expanded segments which may contain internal deposits that may develop into a continuous parietal lining.. Cameral deposits are common and concentrated ventrally. Apices typically have a slight to moderate exogastric curvature
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.
Basslerocerida is an order of nautiloid cephalopods from the Ordovician comprising exogastric longiconic cyrtocones, that is no longer in common use.
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.
Ancistroceras is one of the two ancestral lituitids from the late Early Ordovician (Arenigian). The other being Holmiceras.
Holmiceras is one of two ancestral lituitids from the late Early Ordovician (Arenigian). The other being Ancistroceras.
Angelinoceras is a genus of lituitids from the Middle Ordovician that starts off with an open spiral of about 1.5 strongly compressed whorls followed by a straight orthoconic section that continues to expand for a length about equal to the diameter of the coiled portion before retaining a more or less consistent diameter. The juvenile spiral portion has a deep indentation on the ventral side of the aperture for the water-jet funnel, known as a hyponomic sinus, that becomes broad and shallow in the straight-shelled adult portion.
Rhynchorthoceras is a Middle Ordovician genus characterized by a rapidly expanded, weakly annulate orthocone, like the orthoconic section of Ancistroceras, but with only a curved, cyrtoconic apex instead of juvenile whorls.
Bassleroceras is an elongate upwardly curved, exogastric, genus with the venter on the under side more sharply rounded than the dorsum on the upper. The siphuncle is ventral, composed of thick-walled tubular segments in which connection rings thicken in towardly as in both the Ellesmerocerida and primitive Tarphycerida.
Ophioceras is a genus of closely coiled tarphycerid nautiloid cephalopods, the sole representatives of the family Ophidioceratidae, characterized by an evolute shell with narrow, subrounded, annulated whorls and a subcentral siphuncle composed of thin connecting rings that show no evidence of layering. The mature body chamber is strongly divergent and is the longest proportionally of any tarphycerid. The aperture has a deep hyponomic sinus and ocular sinuses, and so resembles some lituitids.
Barrandeoceras is a large, coiled, Middle Ordovician nautiloid cephalopod and part of the Tarphycerida. The shell is serpenticonic with whorls touching but not embracing. The adult body chamber becomes freed of the preceding whorl, a rather common character among tarphycerids. Whorl section is oval, somewhat more narrowly rounded ventrally, on the outer rim, than dorsally, on the inner rim. Prominent lateral ribs, at least on inner whorls. Grow lines show a distinct hyponomic sinus. Sutures have lateral lobes. The siphuncle is subcentral.
Ascoceratidae is a family of Ascocerida, bizarre orthoceratoid cephalopods, with longiconic, deciduous early growth stages which undergo period truncation and an inflated breviconic mature ascoceroid stage. The Ascoceratidae are divided into two, unequal subfamilies.