Talk:Orthoceras

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[edit] X-rated nautiloids?

"Orthocone orgies"??? Where's the reference? OTOH "belemite battlefieds" returned 39 hits on google so it seems legit M Alan Kazlev 08:36, 8 June 2006 (UTC)

can't find it either. I removed it. Sander123 15:36, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

More searching: This paper [1] contains the following text

Holland et al. (1994) documented the commonly high concentration of specimens, characterizing the cephalopod limestone biofacies, describing Ordovician to Devonian examples from widely separated parts of the world. According to these authors different environmental causes could explain the high concentration of fossils. They also consider Doyle and MacDonald’s (1993, p. 67) suggestions regarding so-called ‘belemnite battlefields’ as most likely caused by post-spawning mortality. In conclusion, however, they write: “Thus we are left with catastrophic mass-mortality as the most likely explanation of the Palaeozoic concentrations. It must be said that this is adequate but that its precise nature may be difficult or impossible to discover.” (Holland et al. 1994, p. 96).

From which I conclude that the 'orthocone orgies' are probably a fabrication. And moreover the assemblages considered are, although cephalopods, perhaps not even Orthoceras. Unforunately the referenced paper is not online. Sander123 15:52, 15 December 2006 (UTC)