Trilobites are extinct marine arthropods that form the class Trilobita. Trilobites form one of the earliest known groups of arthropods. The first appearance of trilobites in the fossil record defines the base of the Atdabanian stage of the Early Cambrian period and they flourished throughout the lower Paleozoic before slipping into a long decline, when, during the Devonian, all trilobite orders except the Proetida died out. The last trilobites disappeared in the mass extinction at the end of the Permian about 251.9 million years ago. Trilobites were among the most successful of all early animals, existing in oceans for almost 270 million years, with over 22,000 species having been described.
Goniatids, informally goniatites, are ammonoid cephalopods that form the order Goniatitida, derived from the more primitive Agoniatitida during the Middle Devonian some 390 million years ago. Goniatites (goniatitids) survived the Late Devonian extinction to flourish during the Carboniferous and Permian only to become extinct at the end of the Permian some 139 million years later.
Orthoceras is a genus of extinct nautiloid cephalopod restricted to Middle Ordovician-aged marine limestones of the Baltic States and Sweden. This genus is sometimes called Orthoceratites. Note it is sometimes misspelled as Orthocera, Orthocerus or Orthoceros.
Olenellina is a suborder of the order Redlichiida of trilobites that occurs about halfway during the Lower Cambrian, at the start of the stage called the Atdabanian. Olenellina are arguably the earliest trilobites in the fossil record as members of Redlichiina, although Ptychopariida and Eodiscina follow soon after. The suborder died out when the Lower Cambrian passed into the Middle Cambrian, at the end of the stage called Toyonian. A feature uniting the Olenellina is the lack of rupture lines in the headshield, which in other trilobites assist the periodic moulting, associated with arthropod growth. Some derived trilobites have lost facial sutures again, but all of these are blind, while all Olenellina have eyes.
Clidastes is an extinct genus of marine lizard belonging to the mosasaur family. It is classified as part of the Mosasaurinae subfamily, alongside genera like Mosasaurus and Prognathodon. Clidastes is known from deposits ranging in age from the Coniacian to the early Campanian in the United States.
Acanthohoplites is an extinct genus of ammonites in the family Parahoplitidae that lived in the Aptian and Early Albian stages of the Early Cretaceous.
Agathiceras is a subglobose goniatitid from the family Agathiceratidae, widespread and locally abundant in Lower Pennsylvanian to Middle Permian sediments, e.g. the Urals, Sicily, and Texas.
Asapholytoceras is a lytoceratid ammonite, originally from the upper Lower Jurassic of southeastern Europe with high, compressed whorls and a sharp angle to the umbilical shoulder. The exposed suture has four primary lobes on either side; the internal dorsal lobe is not cruciform.
Adrianitidae is a family in the Adrianitaceae, a superfamily of ammonites in the cephalopod order, Goniatitida, known from the Middle Pennsylvanian to the Middle Permian.
Ammonitina comprises a diverse suborder of ammonite cephalopods that lived during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods of the Mesozoic Era. They are excellent index fossils, and it is often possible to link the rock layer in which they are found to specific geological time periods.
Zetoceras is an extinct ammonoid cephalopod genus from the suborder Phylloceratina that lived during the Early and Middle Jurassic in what is now Europe, and is included in the (family) Phylloceratidae.
Prolecanitida is an order of extinct ammonoid cephalopods, the major Late Paleozoic group of ammonoids alongside the order Goniatitida. Prolecanitids had narrow shells, discoidal (disc-shaped) to thinly lenticular (lens-shaped). They retained a retrochoanitic siphuncle, a simple form with septal necks extending backwards. As is typical for ammonoids, the siphuncle sits along the ventral margin of the shell.
Coilopoceras is a compressed, involute, lenticular ammonitid from the Cretaceous, with a narrow venter and raggedy ammonitic suture; type of the Coilopoceratidae, a family in the Acanthoceratoidea of the suborder Ammonitina.
Idoceras is a genus of perisphictacean ammonite, belonging to the Perisphinctidae subfamily Idoceratinae. The genus is known from the Upper Jurassic, with a widespread distribution. Shells of Idoceras are evolute, with a wide umbilicus; ribbing strong, bifurcate high on flanks. Suture simpler than in the similar Ataxioceras.
Tornoceras is a strongly involute, subdiscoidal Middle and Upper Devonian goniatite with a suture that forms six to ten lobes. Tornoceras is an extinct genus of cephalopods that shares similarities with the modern pearly nautilus. This genus first appeared during the Devonian Period, which spanned from 416 million to 359 million years ago. The shell is circular and relatively flat, with the final whorl enveloping the previous ones. The sutures between the successive chambers of the shell exhibit a gently rippled pattern.
Lytoceratidae is a taxonomic family of ammonoid cephalopods belonging to the suborder Lytoceratina, characterized by very evolute shells that generally enlarge rapidly, having whorls in contact but mostly overlapping very sightly, or not at all.
Megalytoceras is an extinct genus of ammonite from the middle Jurassic, belonging to the suborder Lytoceratina.
Megalytoceratinae is a subfamily of lytoceratids ammonites consisting of planulate forms, i.e. those with moderately evolute compressed shells with bluntly rounded venters, in which the outer whorls become smooth and sutures tend to resemble those of the Perisphinctidae. The family includes three genera, Megalytoceras, and Metrolytoceras, from the Middle Bajocian of England, Perilytoceras from the Toarcian and a fourth possible member, Asapholytoceras, from the Toacian of southeastern Europe.
The family Dactylioceratidae comprises Early Jurassic ammonite genera with ribbed and commonly tuberculate shells that resembled later Middle Jurassic stephanoceratids and Upper Jurassic perisphinctids. Shells may be either evolute or involute.
Viaphacops is a genus of trilobites in the order Phacopida, family Phacopidae, that lived during the Middle Devonian, and is known from North and South America, Asia.
