Argonauta oweri Temporal range: Pliocene
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Mollusca |
Class: | Cephalopoda |
Order: | Octopoda |
Family: | Argonautidae |
Genus: | Argonauta |
Species: | †A. oweri
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Binomial name | |
†Argonauta oweri |
Argonauta oweri is an extinct species of argonautid octopus. It is known from the early Pliocene of New Zealand.[1][2][3]
The type specimen, a fossilised eggcase, measures 118 mm in diameter. Its aperture is 95 mm high and 40 mm across at its widest point (though it is slightly crushed).[1] It was collected by John R. Ower of Superior Oil Company (after whom it is named) in a "limy concretionary boulder" in Hautapu River, due west of Flat Spur and 1.4 miles (2.3 km) southeast of Utiku, New Zealand.[1]
The fossil was not found in situ and therefore its parent formation is unknown,[3] though Hautapu River flows exclusively through early Pliocene rocks and according to the describing author "the horizon is almost certainly Waitotaran".[1]