| Rutoceratodae Temporal range: Devonian - Mississppian |
|
|---|---|
| Hindeoceras | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Cephalopoda |
| Subclass: | Nautiloidea |
| Order: | Nautilida |
| Superfamily: | Tainocerataceae |
| Family: | Rutoceratidae Hyatt, 1884 |
The Rutoceratidae are the prototypical nautilids, derived probably from either the Brevicoceratidae or Acleistoceratidae of the Oncocerida early in the Devonian. The Rutoceratidae comprise a family within the oncocerid superfamily Tainocerataceae[1] They are generally characterized by cyrtoconic and gyroconic shells, commonly with spines, nodes, or frills, although some included genera are almost orthoconic, and a commonly empty, tubular ventral siphuncle.[1] [2]
The Rutocertidae lived during the Devonian and Mississippian (early Carboniferous) and are the ancestral stock of the entire Nautilida.[1][3] Within the Taintocerataceae, rutoceratids gave rise to the exclusively Devonian Tetragonoceratidae and near the start of the Mississippian to the Koninkioceratidae which lasted into the Permian and to the Tainoceratidae which lasted through most of the Triassic.