Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Protostomia
Cladus: Spiralia
Cladus: Lophotrochozoa
Phylum: Mollusca
Classis: Cephalopoda
Subclassis: † Ammonoidea
Ordo: † Ammonitida
Subordo: † Ancyloceratina
Superfamiliae: Ancyloceratoidea – Douvilleiceratoidea – Scaphitoidea – Turrilitoidea
(previously: Ancylocerataceae - Deshayesitaceae - Douvilleicerataceae - Scaphitaceae)Ancylocerataceae - Deshayesitaceae - Douvilleicerataceae - Scaphitaceae -
Genus: Ephamulina
Name
† Ancyloceratina Wiedmann, 1966
References
Primary references
Wiedmann, J. 1966. Stammesgeschichte und System der posttriadischen Ammonoideen. Ein Überblick. 2. Teil. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie. Abhandlungen 127(1): 13–81. PDF Reference page. : 54
Links
Ancyloceratina – Taxon details on Fossilworks.
The Ancyloceratina were a diverse suborder of ammonite most closely related to the ammonites of order Lytoceratina. They evolved during the Late Jurassic but were not very common until the Cretaceous period, when they rapidly diversified and became one of the most distinctive components of Cretaceous marine faunas. They have been recorded from every continent and many are used as zonal or index fossils. The most distinctive feature of the majority of the Ancyloceratina is the tendency for most of them to have shells that are not regular spirals like most other ammonites. These irregularly-coiled ammonites are called heteromorph ammonites, in contrast to regularly coiled ammonites, which are called homomorph ammonites.
Biology
The biology of the heteromorph ammonites is not clear, but one certainty is that their uncoiled shells would have made these forms very poor swimmers. Open shells, particularly ones with spines and ribs, create a lot of drag; but more importantly, the orientation of the shell, with the body hanging below the buoyant part of the shell, would have created a serious impediment to efficient swimming. It's more likely these ammonites either drifted in the plankton, collecting small animals on long tentacles like modern jellyfish, or else they crawled along the sea floor feeding on sessile or slow-moving animals such as clams.
Morphology
Assemblage of Barremian heteromorph ammonites from southeastern France
Ancyloceratida varied widely in size, ranging from diminutive Ptychoceras, which was barely 3 cm (1.2 in) long, to Baculites and Diplomoceras, which could grow to 1–2 m (3.3–6.6 ft) in length. Some species were very widely distributed, for example some species of Hamites can be found in Eurasia, South America, Australia, and Antarctica. Others, like those inhabiting the Western Interior Seaway that covered much of the US, were much more localized.
In the more primitive forms, the shell departs only slightly from being a perfect spiral, with only the last, outermost whorl being open, forming a hook underneath the main spiral. In such forms the spiral was the chambered, buoyant part of the shell, and the hook was the living chamber in which the soft body of the ammonite resided. Examples of such types were Ancyloceras, Protanisoceras, and Tropaeum. The more advanced heteromorphs departed from such forms radically. The shells of Ptychoceras consisted of three or four shafts squashed together and connected with tight, 180 degree bends. Members of the genus Hamites were much larger but had a similar sort of shape, though the shafts were open so that the whole thing looked rather like a big paper clip.
Many of the earlier heteromorph forms had regularly coiled shells barely distinguishable from the homomorph ammonites (for example, the Lower Cretaceous genus Deshayesites). Some offshoots of the uncoiled varieties even went back to being regularly coiled. Most notable among these were the Scaphites, Hoploscaphites and their relatives, which were mostly regular spirals in shape except for a very slight hook at the end.
The Late Cretaceous enjoyed the widest variety of heteromorphs, including the straight-shelled Baculites and Sciponoceras; the helically coiled Turrilites; and the bizarre Nipponites, which looked more like a ball of string than anything else. Some forms combined different coiling modes. For example, Nostoceras started off with a helix like a Turrilites, but had a planar hook hanging underneath, more like an Ancyloceras.
The thin shelled heteromorphic ammonites probably lived at depths 36–183 m (118.1–600.4 ft).[1]
Classification
Crioceratites nolani with spines partially restored
Nipponites mirabilis
Scaphites sp.
Suborder Ancyloceratina
Superfamily Ancyloceratoidea
Family Acrioceratidae
Family Ancyloceratidae
Family Bochianitidae
Family Crioceratitidae
Family Hamulinidae
Family Hemihoplitidae
Family Heteroceratidae
Family Himantoceratidae
Family Labeceratidae
Family Macroscaphitidae
Family Ptychoceratidae
Superfamily Deshayesitoidea
Family Deshayesitidae
Family Parahoplitidae
Superfamily Douvilleiceratoidea
Family Astiericeratidae
Family Douvilleiceratidae
Family Trochleiceratidae
Superfamily Scaphitoidea
Family Scaphitidae
Superfamily Turrilitoidea
Family Anisoceratidae
Family Baculitidae
Family Diplomoceratidae
Family Hamitidae
Family Nostoceratidae
Family Turrilitidae
Footnotes
"Paleoecologic Context," Pasche and May (2001); page 224.
References
Wolfgang Grulke (2014), Heteromorph: The rarest fossil ammonites. Nature at its most bizarre, At One Communications, ISBN 9780992974008
Pasch, A. D., K. C. May. 2001. Taphonomy and paleoenvironment of hadrosaur (Dinosauria) from the Matanuska Formation (Turonian) in South-Central Alaska. In: Mesozoic Vertebrate Life. Ed.s Tanke, D. H., Carpenter, K., Skrepnick, M. W. Indiana University Press. Pages 219–236.
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