| Palaeoctopus Temporal range: | |
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| Holotype of Palaeoctopus newboldi | |
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| Genus: | †Palaeoctopus |
| Type species | |
| †Palaeoctopus newboldi (Woodward, 1896a) [2] | |
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Genus synonymy Species synonymy
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Palaeoctopus is an extinct genus of octopuses that lived during the Late Cretaceous. It contains one valid species, P. newboldi, which has been found in Lebanon.
Calais newboldi was named by Henry B. Woodward in 1896 for a nearly-complete specimen from the Sahel Alma lagerstätte of Lebanon. [2] However, that genus name was preoccupied by the beetle Calais . [3] Woodward named Palaeoctopus as a replacement later the same year. [1] Embrik Strand proposed the alternate replacement name Calaita in 1928. [4]
Beloteuthis libanotica was named by Adolf Naef in 1922 for a supposed teudopsid gladius from Sahel Alma. [6] It was moved to a new genus, Parateudopsis, by Theo Engeser and Joachim Reitner in 1986. [5] The specimen was eventually reidentified as an isolated gladius vestige of P. newboldi. [7]
A second species, P. pelagicus, was named by Dirk Fuchs and colleagues in 2008 for an alleged gladius vestige from the Vallecillo lagerstätte of Mexico. [8] It was subsequently revealed to be a gular plate from a coelacanth, possibly a juvenile Megalocoelacanthus . [9]
A cephalopod is any member of the molluscan class Cephalopoda such as a squid, octopus, cuttlefish, or nautilus. These exclusively marine animals are characterized by bilateral body symmetry, a prominent head, and a set of arms or tentacles modified from the primitive molluscan foot. Fishers sometimes call cephalopods "inkfish", referring to their common ability to squirt ink. The study of cephalopods is a branch of malacology known as teuthology.
Spirulida is an order of cephalopods comprising one extant species and several extinct taxa.
Coleoidea or Dibranchiata, is one of the two subclasses 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 shell called cuttlebone or gladius that is used for buoyancy or as muscle anchorage. Some species, notably incirrate octopuses, 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.
Neocephalopods are a group of cephalopod mollusks that include the coleoids and all extinct species that are more closely related to extant coleoids than to the nautilus. In cladistic terms, it is the total group of Coleoidea. In contrast, the palcephalopoda are defined as the sister group to the neocephalopoda.
Palaeoctopodidae is an extinct family of incirrate octopuses that lived during the Late Cretaceous. It includes two genera, Keuppia and Palaeoctopus.
Tusoteuthis is an extinct genus of large enchoteuthine cephalopod that lived during the Cretaceous. Although often called a squid, it is now thought to be more closely related to modern octopuses. Although many specimens from Western Interior Seaway of North America were described, at 2019, only one, poorly preserved specimen from Kansas is recognized as Tusoteuthis. One species, T. longa, is traditionally recognized. In 2019, due to poor preservation of holotype specimen, Tusoteuthis was considered likely to be a nomen dubium, and it was proposed that later described species are better to included in genus Enchoteuthis instead.
Belemnotheutis is an extinct coleoid cephalopod genus from the middle and upper Jurassic, related to but morphologically distinct from belemnites. Belemnotheutis fossils are some of the best preserved among coleoids. Remains of soft tissue are well-documented in some specimens, even down to microscopic muscle tissue. In 2008, a group of paleontologists even recovered viable ink from ink sacs found in several specimens.
The Toolebuc Formation is a geological formation that extends from Queensland across South Australia and the Northern Territory in Australia, whose strata date back to the Albian stage of the Early Cretaceous. Dinosaurs, pterosaurs, plesiosaurs, ichthyosaurs, protostegid turtles, sharks, chimaeroids and bony fish remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.
The Allaru Formation, also known as the Allaru Mudstone, is a geological formation in Queensland, Australia, whose strata date back to the Early Cretaceous. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.
Styletoctopus is an extinct genus of octopus. The genus consists of the single species Styletoctopus annae, which lived approximately 95 million years ago during the late Cenomanian,. It was first discovered in 2009 by a team led by Dirk Fuchs of Freie University in the Hâqel and Hjoula localities in Lebanon. Very few octopus species appear in the fossil record, as octopuses consist of soft tissue that usually decomposes before it has time to fossilize.
Keuppia is an extinct genus of octopus.
Nyctosauridae is a family of specialized soaring pterosaurs of the late Cretaceous Period of North America, Africa, and possibly Europe. It was named in 1889 by Henry Alleyne Nicholson and Richard Lydekker.
Belemnitida is an extinct order of squid-like cephalopods that existed from the Late Triassic to Late Cretaceous. Unlike squid, belemnites had an internal skeleton that made up the cone. The parts are, from the arms-most to the tip: the tongue-shaped pro-ostracum, the conical phragmocone, and the pointy guard. The calcitic guard is the most common belemnite remain. Belemnites, in life, are thought to have had 10 hooked arms and a pair of fins on the guard. The chitinous hooks were usually no bigger than 5 mm (0.20 in), though a belemnite could have had between 100 and 800 hooks in total, using them to stab and hold onto prey.
Dorateuthis is a genus of cephalopod with a gladius and soft-part anatomy preserved. Fossils of D. syriaca are found in Upper Santonian-aged shale of Late Cretaceous Lebanon.
Cirrate octopuses possess a well-developed internal shell that supports their muscular swimming fins. This is in contrast to the more familiar, finless, incirrate octopuses, in which the shell remnant is either present as a pair of stylets or absent altogether.
This list, 2013 in molluscan paleontology, is a list of new taxa of ammonites and other fossil cephalopods, as well as fossil gastropods, bivalves and other molluscs that have been described during the year 2013.
The Sannine Formation, also called the Sannine Limestone, is a Cretaceous geologic formation in Lebanon.
Boreopeltis is an extinct genus of plesioteuthidid cephalopod, with 4 known species.
Enchoteuthis is an extinct genus of large enchoteuthine cephalopod that lived during the Cretaceous. Although it and its relative Tusoteuthis are often compared to squid, both are now thought to be more closely related to modern octopuses. Examination of gladius remains initially yielded an estimated mantle length about 2 m based on specimen once described as Tusoteuthis longa, close to or equal to that of the modern giant squid, although reclassification of this genus as a muensterelloid results in a much shorter total length, about 3 m (10 ft). Three species are currently recognized as valid: E. melanae, E. tonii, and E. cobbani.
Eromangateuthis is an extinct genus of large plesioteuthidid cephalopod from the Cretaceous of Australia and possibly Canada.
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