| Phragmoceratidae Temporal range: M-U Silurian | |
|---|---|
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| Phragmoceras broderipi from Beroun, Dlauhà, Prague Basin at the National Museum (Prague) | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Cephalopoda |
| Subclass: | Nautiloidea |
| Order: | † Discosorida |
| Family: | † Phragmoceratidae Flower (1957) |
| Genera | |
See text | |
The Phragmoceratidae is a family of extinct nautiloid cephalopods from the Order Discosorida that lived during the latter part of the Silurian.
Phragmoceratids are characterized by generally compressed, upwardly curved endogastric shells with slit-like apertures for egress and ventral siphuncles with broadly expanded segments, thick connecting rings, and small to vestigial bullettes.
Phragmoceratids are morphologically similar in regards to their constricted apertures to the more cylindrical and orthoconic Mandaloceratidae, also discosorids, and to the oncocerid Hemiphragmoceratidae (Sweet 1964); both which also come from the Silurian.
The Phragmoceratidae are derived from the Ordovician Cyrtogomphoceratidae which are also endogastric but with open, unconstricted apertures and well-developed bullettes in the siphuncle.
The family has its beginning with the Middle Silurian Protophragmoceras, known from a gradually and evenly expanding endogastric shell with an unrestricted aperture, like that of its cyrtogomphoceratid ancestors, deep sharp hyponomic sinus for the water-jet funnel, and ventral siphuncle, phragmoceratid in character.
Protophragmoceras gave rise to the Middle Silurian Phragmoceras, which gave rise to the closely related Middle Silurian Tubiferoceras and to the Upper Silurian Pristeroceras and Phragmocerina. Protophagmoceras also gave rise to the less characteristic but still included Middle Silurian Endoplectoceras and Sthenoceras, which extends into the Lower Devonian.
Phragmoceras, type genus, is known by its moderately large, strongly curved, rapidly enlarging, endogastric and compressed shell with a vertically constricted aperture that opens up at either end. The siphuncle is close to the concave ventral margin, segments broadly expanded, connecting rings thick, bullettes identifiable.
Tubiferoceras is similar to Phragmocreas except that the dorsal expansion of the aperture sits on a tubular extension and the shell is straighter and more rapidly expanding.
Pristeroceras differs from Phragmoceras in having a crenulated margin to the aperture. Phragmocerina is less compressed than Phragmoceras but with a similar aperture and like Phragmoceras is endogastric in the early stages but becomes straight in the later.
Endoplectoceras is similar to Protophragmoceras except the shell is more slender and has faint trochoidal coiling.
Sthenoceras has a fairly large, smooth endogastric shell, more strongly curved in the early stages, aperture that is only slightly contracted, and siphuncle with variably expanded segments and small bulletes.
Contemporary cephalopods include oncocerids, barrandeocerids, orthocerids, and actinocerids.
Discosorida are an order of cephalopods that lived from the beginning of the Middle Ordovician, through the Silurian, and into the Devonian. Discosorids are unique in the structure and formation of the siphuncle, the tube that runs through and connects the camerae (chambers) in cephalopods, which unlike those in other orders is zoned longitudinally along the segments rather than laterally. Siphuncle structure indicated that the Discosorida evolved directly from the Plectronoceratida rather than through the more developed Ellesmerocerida, as did the other orders. Finally and most diagnostic, discosorids developed a reinforcing, grommet-like structure in the septal opening of the siphuncle known as the bullette, formed by a thickening of the connecting ring as it draped around the folded back septal neck.
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.
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.
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.
The Lowoceratidae is a small family of discosorids, early nautiloid cephalopods, from the Middle Silurian in which the characteristic bullette is found only in early growth stages. Lowoceratids were first found in Southampton Island in the Canadian arctic.
Osbornoceras is a genus of Lower Silurian cyrtoconic nautiloid cephalopods known from Ohio and possibly Manitoba, one of five general currently included in the oncocerid family Karoceratidae.
Westonoceras is an extinct nautiloid genus from the Discosorida that lived during the Middle and Late Ordovician that has been found in North America, Greenland, and Northern Europe. It is the type genus for the Westonoceratidae
Oncoceratidae is a family of nauatiloid cephalopods in the order Oncocerida established by Hyatt, 1884, that range from the Middle Ordovician to the Upper Silurian.
Hemiphragmoceratidae is a family of endogastrically brevconic oncocerids characterized by elaborately visored apertures in which the hyponomic sinus in mature specimens is on a spout-like process and there may be lateral and dorsal salients.. Shells are compressed with the apical portion curved and the anterior straight. Siphucles are nummuloideal with expanded spheroidal segments and continuously actinosiphonate interiors.
Mandaloceratidae is a family in the nautiloid cephalopod order Discosorida, from the Middle and Upper(?) Silurian characterized by short, essentially straight shells referred to as breviconic, typically with a faintly exogastric shape produced by the profile of the body chamber.
Landeroceras is a genus of straight shelled cyrtogomphoceratid from the Middle Ordovician Big Horn dolomite of Wyoming.
The Cyrtogomphoceratidae are a family in the cephalopod order Discosorida that comprises genera commonly with compressed, endogastrically curved shells. Siphuncles lie close to the ventral side, segments are broadly inflated, connecting rings thick and apically expanded thick bullettes. Chambers are short, separated by shallow, dish shaped septa. Apertures are generally simple.
Strandoceras is a strongly curved cyrtogomphoceratid with a laterally compressed cross section from the middle and upper Ordovician of Northern Europe; Estonia, Norway, the U.K.
Westonoceratidae are exogastric, mostly compressed, Discosorida of moderate size from the Middle Ordovician to the Lower Silurian.
Teichertoceras is a discosorid genus in the family Westonoceratidae characterized by an endogastric curvature to the early portion of the phragmocone.
Hectoceras is a genus in the nautiloid cephalopod order Discosorida from the Upper Ordovician of Australia (Tasmania), known from a few isolated siphuncle specimens.
Cyrtogomphoceras is a genus of nautiloid cephalopods, recognized by its large breviconic shell with a notable endogastric curvature. The shell is fusiform in profile, reaching maximum width at or near the base of body chamber, which narrows toward the aperture. The siphuncle is large and slightly removed from the ventral side, that with the concave longitudinal profile. Siphuncle segments are short, as are chambers; septal necks recurved, connecting rings thick, bullettes at the apical end of the rings swollen. Cameral deposits are lacking.
Konglungenoceras is a discorid from the lower Silurian of Europe (Norway) included in the Cyrtogomphoceratidae that lacks the septal foramina grasping bullettes at the adapical end of the connecting rings. shells are endogastric and strongly compressed, such that the ventral or siphuncle side is curved inward and the dorso-ventral height is greater than the width. Endosiphuncular deposits in the apical portion of the siphuncle consist of thick overlapping parietal laminae that form endocones, similar to those is Discosorus and Alpenoceras.
Discosoridae comprise a family of endogastric discosorids,, with endocones in the siphuncle, ranging from the Middle Silurian to Middle Devonian.