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 remaining group of ammonoids from the Jurassic up until their extinction.
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.
Nautiloids are a group of marine cephalopods (Mollusca) which originated in the Late Cambrian and are represented today by the living Nautilus and Allonautilus. Fossil nautiloids are diverse and species rich, with over 2,500 recorded species. They flourished during the early Paleozoic era, when they constituted the main predatory animals. Early in their evolution, nautiloids developed an extraordinary diversity of shell shapes, including coiled morphologies and giant straight-shelled forms (orthocones). No orthoconic and only a handful of coiled species, the nautiluses, survive to the present day.
Ammonitida or "True ammonites" are an order of ammonoid cephalopods that lived from the Jurassic through Paleocene time periods, commonly with intricate ammonitic sutures.
The Lopingian is the uppermost series/last epoch of the Permian. It is the last epoch of the Paleozoic. The Lopingian was preceded by the Guadalupian and followed by the Early Triassic.
The Emsian is one of three faunal stages in the Early Devonian Epoch. It lasted from 407.6 ± 2.6 million years ago to 393.3 ± 1.2 million years ago. It was preceded by the Pragian Stage and followed by the Eifelian Stage. It is named after the Ems river in Germany. The GSSP is located in the Zinzil'ban Gorge in the Kitab State Geological Reserve of Uzbekistan, 35 centimetres (14 in) above the contact with the Madmon Formation.
The Early Devonian is the first of three epochs comprising the Devonian period, corresponding to the Lower Devonian series. It lasted from 419.2 ± 3.2 to 393.3 ± 1.2 and began with the Lochkovian Stage 419.2 ± 3.2 to 410.8 ± 1.2, which was followed by the Pragian from 410.8 ± 3.2 to 407.6 ± 1.2 and then by the Emsian, which lasted until the Middle Devonian began, 393.3± 1.2 million years ago. During this time, the first ammonoids appeared, descending from bactritoid nautiloids. Ammonoids during this time period were simple and differed little from their nautiloid counterparts. These ammonoids belong to the order Agoniatitida, which in later epochs evolved to new ammonoid orders, for example Goniatitida and Clymeniida. This class of cephalopod molluscs would dominate the marine fauna until the beginning of the Mesozoic Era.
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.
Arctoceras is a genus of ceratitid ammonoids from the Lower Triassic with a moderately narrow discoidal shell and ceratitic suture.
Xenodiscoidea, formerly Xenodiscaceae, is a superfamily within the ammonoid order Ceratitida. The superfamily was named by Frech in 1902, presently contains ten families, only one of which was included in the original Otocerataceae of Hyatt, 1900, the remaining having been added.
Goniatitina is one of two suborders included in the order Goniatitida; extinct Paleozoic ammonoid cephalopods only distantly related to the Nautiloidea.
Maximites is a genus of Late Carboniferous ammonoids. Adult specimens were the smallest known ammonoids, only at about 1 cm (0.39 in) in diameter of shells. Fossils are found in various Late Carboniferous marine strata in North America. Maximites is the sole genus of Maximitidae, one of two families of the Superfamily Pseudohaloritoidea, an important subgroup of the order Goniatitida.
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.
The Cravenoceratidae is one of six families included in the ammonoid superfamily Neoglyphioceratoidea, which lived during the latter part of the Paleozoic era.
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.
Clydonitoidea, formerly Clydonitaceae, is a superfamily in the ammonoid cephalopod order Ceratitida characterized by generally costate and tuberculate shells with smooth, grooved, or keeled venters and sutures that are commonly ceratitic or ammonitic but goniatitic in a few offshoots.
Eryonidae is a family of fossil decapod crustaceans which lived from the Upper Triassic to the Lower Cretaceous. It contains four genera: An aggregation of three unidentified eryonids was reported in 2012 inside a Late Jurassic ammonoid of the species Harpoceras falciferum; they represent the earliest evidence of gregarious behaviour in decapods.
The Trachyceratidae is an extinct family of ceratitid ammonoid cephalopods.
Clymeniida is an order of ammonoid cephalopods from the Upper Devonian characterized by having an unusual dorsal siphuncle. They measured about 4 cm (1.6 in) in diameter and are most common in Europe, North Africa, and South China but are known from North America and Australia as well.
Paratirolites is a genus of latest Permian and earliest Triassic ceratites from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, China and Iran with distinct ribs, prominent ventro-lateral tubercles, and a broadly arched venter. The suture is ceratitic with a large ventral saddle. Ceratites are ammonoid cephalopods that lived during the Late Permian and Triassic.
