Tentaculites
| Tentaculites Temporal range: Early Ordovician – Late Devonian[1] | |
|---|---|
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| Tentaculitids from the Devonian of Maryland. | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca (?) |
| Class: | †Tentaculita |
| Order: | †Tentaculitida |
| Family: | †Tentaculitidae |
| Genus: | †Tentaculites von Schlotheim 1820 |
Tentaculites is an extinct genus conical fossil of uncertain affinity, known from Lower Ordovician to Upper Devonian deposits[1] both as calcitic shells with a brachiopod-like microstructure[2] and carbonaceous 'linings'.[3][4] The "tentaculites" (i.e. tentaculita) are also referred to as the styliolinids.
Affinity
The taxonomic classification of tentaculitids is uncertain, but some group them with pteropods.[5] They may also be related to other conical shells of uncertain affinity including cornulitids, microconchids and trypanoporids.[6] Their shell microstructure has warranted their comparison with the brachiopods and phoronids.[2][7]
Morphology
Tentaculitids have ribbed, cone-shaped shells which range in length from 5 to 20 mm. Some species septate; their embryonic shell, which is retained, forms a small, sometimes spherical, chamber.[4]
Ecology
Some species are inferred to have been planktonic.[8]
References
- 1 2 Traverse, A. (2007). "What Paleopalynology Is and Is Not". Paleopalynology. Topics in Geobiology 28. pp. 1–1. doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-5610-9_1. ISBN 978-1-4020-6684-9.
- 1 2 Towe, K. M. (1978). "Tentaculites: Evidence for a Brachiopod Affinity?". Science 201 (4356): 626–628. doi:10.1126/science.201.4356.626. PMID 17794124.
- ↑ Wood, G.D., Miller, M.A., and Bergstrom, S.M. 2004. Late Devonian (Frasnian) tentaculite organic remains in palynological preparations, Radom−Lublin region, Poland. Memoirs of the Association of Australian Palaeontologists 29: 253–258.
- 1 2 Filipiak, P.; Jarzynka, A. (2009). "Organic Remains of Tentaculitids: New Evidence from Upper Devonian of Poland". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 54: 111. doi:10.4202/app.2009.0111.
- ↑ Ager, 1963, Principles of Palaeontology
- ↑ Vinn, O. (2010). "Adaptive strategies in the evolution of encrusting tentaculitoid tubeworms". Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology 292: 211–221. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2010.03.046. Retrieved 2014-01-11.
- ↑ Vinn, O.; Zatoń, M. (2012). "Phenetic phylogenetics of tentaculitoids — extinct problematic calcareous tube-forming organisms". GFF 134: 145–156. doi:10.1080/11035897.2012.669788. Retrieved 2014-06-11.
- ↑ LARSSON K. (1979). "Silurian tentaculitids from Gotland and Scania". Fossils and Strata 11: 180.
Further reading
- Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part W - Miscellanea. Geological Society of America and University of Kansas Press, 1962. LCCN 53012913
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