Microbaltoceras

Microbaltoceras Temporal range: Ordovician
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Cephalopoda
Subclass:	Orthoceratoidea
Order:	Orthocerida
Family:	Baltoceratidae Evans (2005)
Genus:	Microbaltoceras Flower (1964)
Species
M. minore

Microbaltoceras is an extinct genus of actively mobile carnivorous cephalapod of the family Baltoceratidae, essentially a Nautiloid that lived in what would be North America during the Ordovician from 490—479 mya, existing for approximately 11 million years.^[1]

Taxonomy

Microbaltoceras was named by Flower (1964). Its type is Rhabdiferoceras annuliferum. It was assigned to Baltoceratidae by Flower (1964) and Hook and Flower (1977).^[2][3]

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: Microbaltoceras, basic info
2. ^ R. H. Flower. 1964. The Nautiloid Order Ellesmeroceratida (Cephalopoda). State Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Memoir 12:234
3. ^ S. C. Hook and R. H. Flower. 1977. Late Canadian (Zones J, K) cephalopod faunas from Southwestern United States. New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources 32:1-56

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