Clinoceratidae

Clinoceratidae Temporal range: Ordovician
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Cephalopoda
Subclass:	Orthoceratoidea
Order:	Orthocerida
Family:	Clinoceratidae Flower (1946)

Clinoceratidae is an extinct family of actively mobile carnivorous cephalapod of the order Orthocerida that lived in what would be North America and Europe during the middle Ordovician through early Silurian from 466—443.7 mya, existing for approximately 22.3 million years.^[1]

Taxonomy

Clinoceratidae was named by Flower (1946). Its type is Clinoceras. It was assigned to Michelinoceratida by Flower (1962).^[2]

Morphology

The shell is usually long, and may be straight ("orthoconic") or gently curved. In life, these animals may have been similar to the modern squid, except for the long shell.

References

1. ^ PaleoBiology Database: Clinoceratidae, basic info
2. ^ R. H. Flower. 1962. Part 1, Revision of Buttsoceras, Part 2, Notes on the Michelinoceratida. State Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Memoir 10:1-58

• Fossils (Smithsonian Handbooks) by David Ward

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