Choanoceratidae

The Choanoceratidae is a small, mono-generic, family of extinct orthoceratoid cephalopods in the order Orthocerida that lived in what would be Europe during the middle Silurian from 428.2—426.2 mya, existing for approximately 2 million years .[1]

Choanoceratidae
Temporal range: Mid Silurian
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Cephalopoda
Order: †Orthocerida
Family: †Choanoceratidae
Miller (1932)
Genus: †Choanoceras
Miller (1932)

Taxonomy

Chaonoceratidae was named as the family for its sole member Choanoceras by Miller (1932) who, along with Flower (1941) regarded it as belonging to the Ascocerida. It became impossible to trace Choanoceras to the ascocerid lineage however, and based on closer affinities, it was assigned to the Michelinoceratida (Orthocerida equivalent) by Flower in 1962.[2]

Morphology

Choanoceras had a slender, very gently curved shell with a natural truncation where it discarded the apical portion sometime during its life, somewhat resembling earlier ascocerids, with siphuncle segments that became gradually more expanded during growth.[2] Nothing is known of the animal itself.

References
  1. Choanoceratidae PaleoBiology Database
  2. 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
  • Fossils (Smithsonian Handbooks) by David Ward


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