Plectronoceras
| Plectronoceras Temporal range: Upper Cambrian | |
|---|---|
 | |
| P. cambria | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Cephalopoda |
| Order: | †Plectronocerida |
| Family: | †Plectronoceridae |
| Genus: | †Plectronoceras Ulrich & Foerste, 1933 |
| Species | |
| |
Plectronoceras is the earliest known shelly cephalopod, dating to the Upper Cambrian.[1] [2] None of the fossils are complete, and none show the tip or opening of the shell.[2] Approximately half of its shell was filled with septa; 7 were recorded in a 2 cm shell.[3] Its shell contains transverse septa separated by about half a millimetre, with a siphuncle on its concave side.[2] Its morphology matches closely to that hypothesised for the last common ancestor of all cephalopods.[2]
Plectronoceras is the type genus of the family Plectronoceratidae.
References
- ↑ Dzik, J. (1981). "Origin of the cephalopoda" (PDF). Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 26 (2): 161–191.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Clarke, M.R.; Trueman, E.R. (1985), "Main features of cephalopod evolution", in Wilbur, Karl M.; Clarke, M.R.; Trueman, E.R., The Mollusca, 12. Paleontology and neontology of Cephalopods, New York: Academic Press, ISBN 0-12-728702-7
- ↑ Webers, G. F.; Yochelson, E. L. (1989). "Late Cambrian molluscan faunas and the origin of the Cephalopoda". In Crame, J. A. Origins and Evolution of the Antarctic Biota 47. Geological Society, London: Special Publications. p. 29. doi:10.1144/GSL.SP.1989.047.01.04.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
