Cymatoceratidae

Cymatoceratidae
Temporal range: Middle Jurassic–Oligocene
Cymatoceras species
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Cephalopoda
Subclass: Nautiloidea
Order: Nautilida
Superfamily: Nautilaceae
Family: †Cymatoceratidae
Spath, 1927
Genera

See text

The Cymatoceratidae is a family of Mesozoic and early Cenozoic nautiloid cephalopods and the most abundant of their kind in the Cretaceous. They are characterized by ribbed, generally involute shells of varied forms - coiled such that the outer whorl envelops the previous one, as with Nautilus, and sutures that are variably sinuous.[1]

Cymatoceratids first appear in the Middle Jurassic, derived from the Lower Jurassic Cenoceras (Nautilidae) and extend as far as the Oligocene.[1]

  1. ^ a b Kummel 1964. Nautiloidea-Nautilida; Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology Part K; Teichert and Moore (eds), Geological Society of America and University of Kansas press