Engorthoceratidae

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Engorthoceratidae
Temporal range: Devonian
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Cephalopoda
Order: Orthocerida
Family: Engorthoceratidae
Flower, 1962
Genus: Engorthoceras
Flower, 1962

Engorthoceratidae is a small family of Devonian orthocerids and a class of cephalopod found in eastern North America (Ohio and Indiana), containing only the genus Engorthoceras.[1][2]

Taxonomy[edit]

Engorthoceratidae was named in 1962 by Rousseau Flower to contain the genus Engorthoceras, also named by Flower (1962), and assigned to the Michelinceratida. The genotype is Orthoceras worthoni.[1]

Morphology[edit]

Engorthoceras produced straight conical shells with a subcircular cross section and a small completely marginal siphuncle.[1] The conical shell is suggestive of belemnite phragmocones and of its possible ancestry to Eobelemites. Nothing is known of the animal itself.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c R. H. Flower. (1962). "Notes on the Michelinoceratida". State Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Memoir 10, Part II
  2. ^ Engorthoceratidae PaleoBiology Database