Prolecanitida

Last updated

Prolecanitida
Temporal range: Early Carboniferous–Early Triassic
Protocanites diagram.png
Protocanites , a Tournaisian prolecanitoid in the family Prolecanitidae
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Cephalopoda
Subclass: Ammonoidea
Order: Prolecanitida
Miller & Furnish, 1954
Superfamilies

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.

Prolecanitids form a relatively small and stable order within the Ammonoidea, with 43 named genera and about 1250 species. They were a long-ranging lineage, surviving for about 108 m.y. stretching from the DevonianCarboniferous boundary to the Early Triassic. Although not as diverse as their goniatitid contemporaries, the Prolecanatida provided the stock from which all later Mesozoic ammonoids were derived.

Most prolecanitids had goniatitic sutures. The sutures start at a narrow ventral lobe, which can range from undivided to tridentate (three-pointed). The saddles are generally rounded, with the first umbilical (or second lateral) saddle often the largest in the suture line. The lobes are usually pointed, though members of the family Daraelitidae acquire a few finely serrated lobes (as characteristic for ceratitic sutures). The first lateral saddle is proportionally small, though its corresponding lateral lobe is broad and typically bifid (two-pointed).

Evolution and phylogeny

Artinskia, an Artinskian medlicottioid in the family Medlicottiidae Artinskia diagram.png
Artinskia , an Artinskian medlicottioid in the family Medlicottiidae

The origin of the Prolecanitida may be found in the Prolobitidae, a family which was originally included in the Anarcestida but recently removed to the Goniatitida. Following their inception, the Prolecanitida divided into two lineages, ranked as superfamilies. In the earlier (Lower Mississippian – Middle Permian) Prolecanitoidea, the shells are fairly smooth and characteristically have a large umbilicus and a generally evolute form. In the later (Upper Mississippian – Triassic) Medlicottioidea, the umbilicus is small, shells tend to be involute, and there is moderate sculpture along the flanks.

The oldest known prolecanitids were the family Prolecanitidae, which appeared around the Devonian–Carboniferous boundary and diversified in the Tournaisian stage. One of the most basal members of the order was Protocanites , which has been (likely erroneously) [1] reported from the latest Devonian Louisiana Limestone of Missouri. [2] The prolecanitoid family Daraelitidae is the probable source for the order Ceratitida, beginning with the family Xenodiscidae in the Middle Permian. Not counting their ceratite descendants, the youngest known prolecanitids were Episageceras and Latisageceras , two Early Triassic medlicottioid genera in the subfamily Episageceratinae.

Prolecanitids showed long-term, gradual changes in shell geometry. Likewise, they utilized a more limited set of available forms (a smaller morphospace) as compared to the dominant goniatitids. Prolecanitid genera averaged 14.7 million years in duration, as compared to 5.7 million years for Upper Carboniferous goniatitids. [3]

Suture morphology in the Prolecanitida changed dramatically over time, from very simple sutures in the earliest genera to much more complex-sutured genera in the late Paleozoic. The increase in suture complexity over the 108 m.y. duration resulted from the iterative of addition of umbilical lobes, increasing serration of lobes, and the subdivision of lateral and ventral lobes. As many as 12–15 replicate, U-shaped umbilical lobes were added to the sutures during both ontogeny and phylogeny, originating at the umbilicus and migrating outward across the flanks.

Suture patterns in Prolecanitida evolved differently than in the Goniatitda, by increasing the number of umbilical lobes rather than by subdivision of the lateral saddle. Moreover, the body chamber in Prolecanitida was comparatively short, taking up only about half of the largest whorl. This complicates the question of the relationship between the Goniatitida and the Prolecanitida and their Mesozoic descendants.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ammonoidea</span> Extinct subclass of cephalopod molluscs

Ammonoids are extinct spiral shelled cephalopods comprising the subclass Ammonoidea. They are more closely related to living coleoids than they are to shelled nautiloids. The earliest ammonoids appeared during the Devonian, with the last species vanishing during or soon after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. They are often called ammonites, which is most frequently used for members of the order Ammonitida, the only living group of ammonoids from the Jurassic up until their extinction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goniatite</span> Extinct order of molluscs

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.

<i>Goniatites</i> Extinct genus of molluscs

Goniatites is a genus of extinct cephalopods belonging to the family Goniatitidae, included in the superfamily Goniatitaceae. Hibernicoceras and Hypergoniatites are among related genera.

Aldanites is an extinct cephalopod genus belonging to the ammonoid order Goniatitida.

Baschkirites is an extinct cephalopod genus belonging to the ammonoid order Goniatitida that lived during the Early Carboniferous (Bashkirian).

Beyrichoceras is a genus belonging to the goniatitid family Muensteroceratidae, a group of ammonoids, extinct shelled cephalopods related to belemnites and recent coleoids and more distantly to the nautiloids

<i>Beyrichoceras</i> Genus of molluscs (fossil)

Beyrichoceras is a genus belonging to the goniatitid family Maxigoniatitidae that lived during the Mississippian Period

Prolobitidae is a family of middle and upper Devonian ammonoid cephalopods currently included in the goniatitid suborder Tornoceratina and superfamily Dimeroceratoidea, but previously included in the ancestral Anarcestida.

Tornoceratidae is a family of goniatitid ammonoids from the middle and upper Devonian. The family is included in the suborder Tornoceratina and the superfamily Tornoceratoidea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gastrioceratoidea</span> Extinct superfamily of molluscs

Gastrioceratoidea is one of 17 superfamilies in the suborder Goniatitina, ammonoid cephalopods from the Late Paleozoic.

The Ammonellipsitinae is a subfamily within the Pericyclidae, a family within the goniatitid superfamily Pericycloidea from the Lower Carboniferous (Mississippian) characterized by having a suture in which the sides of the ventral lobe diverge and the first lateral saddle is acute or subacute, and in which the immature and juvenile shell has a wide umbilicus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Medlicottiidae</span> Extinct family of molluscs

Medlicottiidae is a family of ammonoid cephalopods belonging to the Prolecanitida, known from the Upper Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) to the Early Triassic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prolecanitoidea</span> Extinct superfamily of ammonites

Prolecanitoidea is a taxonomic superfamily of ammonoids in the order Prolecanitida. Prolecanitoidea is one of two superfamilies in the order, along with the younger and more complex Medlicottioidea. The Prolecanitoidea were a low-diversity and morphologically conservative group. They lived from the Lower Carboniferous up to the Middle Permian. Their shells are generally smooth and discoidal, with a rounded lower edge, a moderate to large umbilicus, and goniatitic to ceratitic sutures. Suture complexity varies from 10 up to 22 total lobes ; new lobes are added from subdivision of saddles adjacent to the original main umbilical lobe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daraelitidae</span> Extinct family of molluscs

The Daraelitidae form a family in the ammonoid order Prolecanitida from the Upper Mississippian - Middle Permian characterized by discoidal shells with no prominent sculpture, moderately large umbilicus, and goniatitic or ceratitic sutures with a trifid ventral lobe and few auxiliary lobes.

The Clydonautiloidea are a superfamily within the nautiloid order Nautilida characterized by smooth, generally globular, shells with nearly straight sutures, in early forms, but developing highly differentiated sutures in some later forms. Where known, the siphuncle tends to be central to subcentral.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trigonoceratoidea</span> Extinct superfamily of nautiloids

The Trigonoceratoidea are a superfamily within the Nautilida that ranged from the Devonian to the Triassic, thought to have contained the source for the Nautilaceae in which Nautilus is found.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grypoceratidae</span> Extinct family of molluscs

Grypoceratidae is the longest-lived family of the Trigonoceratoidea, or of the near equivalent Centroceratina; members of the Nautilida from the Upper Paleozoic and Triassic.

The Centroceratidae is the ancestral family of the Trigonoceratoidea and of the equivalent Centroceratina; extinct shelled cephalopods belonging to the order Nautilida

The Uddenitinae a subfamily of the Medlicottiidae, a family of ammonoid cephalopods included in the Prolecanitida. The Uddenitinae, proposed by Miller and Furnish, and known from the Pennsylvanian and Lower Permian, are transitional between the ancestral Pronoritidae and the more traditional medlicottiids

Neoglaphyrites is a goniatitid ammonite that lived during the latest Pennsylvanian and early Permian. Its shell is ellipsoidal and moderately involute; the umbilicus deep and typically less than 15 per cent of the shell diameter but in some species closer to 20 per cent. Delicate growth lines forming ventral and lateral sinuses and ventrolateral and dorsolateral salients have been found on Canadian Arctic specimens. The suture is characterized by the ventral lobe split into two broad prongs that are separated by a high median ventral saddle; prongs closely approximate the width of the first lateral lobe. The first lateral saddle is evenly rounded and is nearly symmetrical. The umbilical lobe is V-shaped and internal lobes are deep and narrow.

References

  1. House, Michael R. (1962). "Observations on the ammonoid succession of the North American Devonian". Journal of Paleontology. 36 (2): 247–284. JSTOR   1301105.
  2. Williams, J.S. (1943). "Stratigraphy and fauna of the Louisiana limestone of Missouri". United States Geological Survey Professional Paper. 203: 1–133. doi:10.3133/pp203. hdl: 2027/mdp.39015066911275 . ISSN   2330-7102.
  3. Saunders, W. Bruce; Work, David M. (1997). "Evolution of shell morphology and suture complexity in Paleozoic prolecanitids, the rootstock of Mesozoic ammonoids". Paleobiology. 23 (3): 301–325. doi:10.1017/S0094837300019709. ISSN   0094-8373.