Nautilus

This article is about the marine mollusc family Nautilidae. For ships of the same name, see List of ships named Nautilus. For other uses, see Nautilus (disambiguation).

Nautilus
Temporal range: Triassic–present 230–0 Ma[1]
Nautilus belauensis
CITES Appendix II (CITES)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Cephalopoda
Subclass: Nautiloidea
Order: Nautilida
Superfamily: Nautilaceae
Family: Nautilidae
Blainville, 1825
Genera

†Carinonautilus
†Cenoceras
†Eutrephoceras
†Pseudocenoceras
†Strionautilus
Allonautilus
Nautilus
† = Extinct

Synonyms[2]
  • Eutrephoceratidae Miller, 1951

Nautilus (from Latin nautilus 'paper nautilus', from Ancient Greek ναυτίλος nautílos 'little sailor')[3] are the ancient pelagic marine mollusc species of the cephalopod family Nautilidae. This is the sole extant family of the superfamily Nautilaceae and the suborder Nautilina.

It comprises nine living species in two genera, the type of which is the genus Nautilus. Though it more specifically refers to the species Nautilus pompilius, the name chambered nautilus is also used for any of the Nautilidae. All are protected under CITES Appendix II.[4] Depending on species, adult shell diameter is between 10 and 25 cm (4 and 10 inches).

Nautilidae, both extant and extinct, are characterized by involute or more or less convolute shells that are generally smooth, with compressed or depressed whorl sections, straight to sinuous sutures, and a tubular, generally central siphuncle.[5] Having survived relatively unchanged for hundreds of millions of years, nautiluses represent the only living members of the subclass Nautiloidea, and are often considered "living fossils".

The first and oldest fossil of chambered nautilus displayed at Philippine National Museum.

The word nautilus is derived from the Greek word ναυτίλος nautílos "sailor", it originally referred to a type of octopus of the genus Argonauta, also known as 'paper nautilus', which were thought to use two of their arms as sails.[6][7]

  1. ^ Ward, P. D.; Saunders, W. B. (1997). "Allonautilus: A New Genus of Living Nautiloid Cephalopod and Its Bearing on Phylogeny of the Nautilida". Journal of Paleontology. 71 (6): 1054–1064. Bibcode:1997JPal...71.1054W. doi:10.1017/S0022336000036039. JSTOR 1306604. S2CID 87319305.
  2. ^ Cichowolski, M.; Ambrosio, A.; Concheyro, A. (2005). "Nautilids from the Upper Cretaceous of the James Ross Basin, Antarctic Peninsula". Antarctic Science. 17 (2): 267. Bibcode:2005AntSc..17..267C. doi:10.1017/S0954102005002671. hdl:11336/96152. S2CID 128767860.
  3. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879). "nautĭlus or nautĭlŏs". A Latin Dictionary. Perseus Digital Library.
  4. ^ "Checklist of CITES species". CITES. Retrieved 24 June 2020. (please fill in 'Nautilus' in the search-box).
  5. ^ Kümmel, B. 1964. Nautiloidae-Nautilida, in the Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Geological Society of America and Univ of Kansas Press, Teichert and Moore eds.
  6. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert (1940). "ναυτίλος". A Greek-English Lexicon. Perseus Digital Library.
  7. ^ "Origin of nautilus". Dictionary.com Unabridged. 2017. Retrieved 15 November 2017.