Nipponites

Nipponites
Temporal range: Turonian–Santonian[1]
Fossils of Nipponites mirabilis from an exhibit at the National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo, Japan
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Cephalopoda
Subclass: Ammonoidea
Order: Ammonitida
Suborder: Ancyloceratina
Superfamily: Turrilitaceae
Family: Nostoceratidae
Genus: Nipponites
Yabe, 1904
Species
  • N. mirabilis Yabe, 1904 (type species)
  • N. bacchus Matsumoto and Muramoto, 1967
  • N. occidentalis Ward and Westermann, 1977
  • N. sachalinensis Kawada, 1929

Nipponites ("stone of Nippon") is an extinct genus of heteromorph ammonites. The species of Nipponites (primarily N. mirabilis) are famous for the way their shells form "ox-bow" bends, resulting in some of the most bizarre shapes ever seen among ammonites.

The ecology of Nipponites, as with many other nostoceratids, is subject to much speculation.

Distribution

Fossils of most species are found primarily in Upper Cretaceous-aged strata of Japan. N. mirabilis is found in Coniacian-aged strata of Japan and possibly Turonian-aged strata in Madagascar.[2] N. bacchus is found in Upper Cretaceous Hokkaido. Two species are found exclusively outside Japan, N. sachalinensis, which is found in Upper Cretaceous strata of Sakhalin island, and Kamchatka peninsula,[3] and N. occidentalis, which is found exclusively in Turonian-aged strata of Southern Oregon.[4]

References

Notes
  1. ↑ Sepkoski, Jack (2002). "Sepkoski's Online Genus Database". Retrieved 2014-05-28.
  2. ↑ Makhon ha-geʹologi (Israel) (1981). Geological Survey Current Research. Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Geological Survey of Israel.
  3. ↑ Shigeta, Yasunari, and Haruyoshi Maeda. "Yezo Group research in Sakhalin—a historical review." National Science Museum Monographs 31 (2005): 1-24.
  4. ↑ Ward, Peter D., and Gerd EG Westermann. "First occurrence, systematics, and functional morphology of Nipponites (Cretaceous Lytoceratina) from the Americas." Journal of Paleontology (1977): 367-372.
Bibliography
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