Turrilitidae

Turrilitidae
Temporal range: 99.6–65.8 Ma
Late Cretaceous
Turrilites acutus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Cephalopoda
Subclass: Ammonoidea
Order: Ammonitida
Suborder: Ancyloceratina
Wiedmann, 1966
Superfamily: Turrilitaceae
Family: Turrilitidae
Meek, 1876
Genera

Turrilitidae is a family of extinct heteromorph ammonite cephalopods. All members had shells that coiled helically that tended to resemble auger shells. The ecological roles turrilitids played is largely unknown, as experts are still speculating what niches they filled. Some, such as Didymoceras, are suspected of floating in the water column, while others, such as the eponymous Turrilites, are believed to have been bottom-dwellers. The name of the type genus Turrilites is a hybrid formation based on Latin turris "tower" and Greek lithos "stone", coined by Lamarck in 1801.

Although they were diverse, with a worldwide distribution, the turrilitids, along with all other ammonites, did not survive the Cretaceous-Tertiary Extinction event.

References