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Albertoceras
''Albertoceras'' is a genus of Early Ordovician ellesmeroceratids with a small, slender, orthoconic to slightly endogastric shell; some even tiny. The cross section is strongly compressed so as to make the height proportionally notably greater than the width. The sutures, marking the edges of the septa, have broad, shallow, lateral lobes. The siphuncle, which seems to lack diaphragms, lies close to the venter. ''Albertoceras'' differs from ''Ectenolites'', which it closely resembles in the early, or juvenile, portion, in having a short living chamber that narrows toward the aperture and a convex dorsal profile in the adult portion. The ventral profile remains straight throughout. ''Albertoceras walcotti'', the type species, and ''A. gracillimum'' are both from the Mons Formation of Alberta. ''A. staufferi'' is from the Tanyard Formation of Texas and ''A. clelandi'' is from the Tribes Hill Limestone of New York. References * R.H. Flower, 1964. The Nautiloid Order Ellesmerocer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ordovician
The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and System (geology), system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era (geology), Era. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years from the end of the Cambrian Period million years ago (Mya) to the start of the Silurian Period Mya. The Ordovician, named after the Celtic Britons, Welsh tribe of the Ordovices, was defined by Charles Lapworth in 1879 to resolve a dispute between followers of Adam Sedgwick and Roderick Murchison, who were placing the same Rock (geology), rock beds in North Wales in the Cambrian and Silurian systems, respectively. Lapworth recognized that the fossil fauna in the disputed Stratum, strata were different from those of either the Cambrian or the Silurian systems, and placed them in a system of their own. The Ordovician received international approval in 1960 (forty years after Lapworth's death), when it was adopted as an official period of the Paleozoic Era by the International Union of Geological Sciences, Intern ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Animal
Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Kingdom (biology), biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals Heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, are Motility, able to move, can Sexual reproduction, reproduce sexually, and go through an ontogenetic stage in which their body consists of a hollow sphere of Cell (biology), cells, the blastula, during Embryogenesis, embryonic development. Over 1.5 million Extant taxon, living animal species have been Species description, described—of which around 1 million are Insecta, insects—but it has been estimated there are over 7 million animal species in total. Animals range in length from to . They have Ecology, complex interactions with each other and their environments, forming intricate food webs. The scientific study of animals is known as zoology. Most living animal species are in Bilateria, a clade whose members have a Symmetry in biology#Bilate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mollusc
Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is estimated between 60,000 and 100,000 additional species. The proportion of undescribed species is very high. Many taxa remain poorly studied. Molluscs are the largest marine phylum, comprising about 23% of all the named marine organisms. Numerous molluscs also live in freshwater and terrestrial habitats. They are highly diverse, not just in size and anatomical structure, but also in behaviour and habitat. The phylum is typically divided into 7 or 8 taxonomic classes, of which two are entirely extinct. Cephalopod molluscs, such as squid, cuttlefish, and octopuses, are among the most neurologically advanced of all invertebrates—and either the giant squid or the colossal squid is the largest known invertebrate species. The gastropods ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cephalopod
A cephalopod is any member of the molluscan class Cephalopoda (Greek plural , ; "head-feet") such as a squid, octopus, cuttlefish, or nautilus. These exclusively marine animals are characterized by bilateral body symmetry, a prominent head, and a set of arms or tentacles (muscular hydrostats) modified from the primitive molluscan foot. Fishers sometimes call cephalopods "inkfish", referring to their common ability to squirt ink. The study of cephalopods is a branch of malacology known as teuthology. Cephalopods became dominant during the Ordovician period, represented by primitive nautiloids. The class now contains two, only distantly related, extant subclasses: Coleoidea, which includes octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish; and Nautiloidea, represented by ''Nautilus'' and ''Allonautilus''. In the Coleoidea, the molluscan shell has been internalized or is absent, whereas in the Nautiloidea, the external shell remains. About 800 living species of cephalopods have been ident ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ellesmerocerida
The Ellesmerocerida is an order of primitive cephalopods belonging to the subclass Nautiloidea with a widespread distribution that lived during the Late Cambrian and Ordovician. Morphology The Ellesmerocerida are characterized by shells that are typically small, some even tiny, with close-spaced septa and relatively large ventral siphuncles. In some genera (e.g. '' Paleoceras''), the septa are uniformly spaced. Shells of ellesmerocerids are typically smooth and compressed and vary in form. They may be breviconic (short) or longiconic (elongate), straight (orthoconic) or curved (cyrtoconic). Cyrtoconic forms are usually endogastric, with longitudinally convex ventral margins. The apeces of straight forms typically have an endogastric curvature. Some may have grown to as much as 15 cm. Siphuncle segments are tubular or concave. Septal necks are short. Connecting rings which may appear layered are thick and typically wedge shaped with their maximum width at or near where ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ellesmeroceratidae
The Ellesmeroceratidae constitute a family within the cephalopod order Ellesmerocerida. They lived from the Upper Cambrian to the Lower Ordovician. They are characterized by straight and endogastric shells, often laterally compressed, so the dorso-ventral dimension is slightly greater than the lateral, with close spaced sutures having shallow lateral lobes and a generally large tubular ventro-marginal siphuncle with concave segments and irregularly spaced diaphragms. Connecting rings are thick and layered, externally straight but thickening inwardly with the maximum near the middle of the segment so as to leave concave depressions on internal siphuncle molds. Septal necks are typically orthochoanitic but vary in length from almost absent (achoanitic) to reaching halfway to the previous septum (hemichoanitic) and may even slope inwardly (loxochoanitic). Evolution and phylogeny The Ellesmeroceratidae have their derivation in the Plectronoceratidae, order Plectronocerida, in Tr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Siphuncle
The siphuncle is a strand of tissue passing longitudinally through the shell of a cephalopod mollusk. Only cephalopods with chambered shells have siphuncles, such as the extinct ammonites and belemnites, and the living nautiluses, cuttlefish, and ''Spirula''. In the case of the cuttlefish, the siphuncle is indistinct and connects all the small chambers of that animal's highly modified shell; in the other cephalopods it is thread-like and passes through small openings in the septa (walls) dividing the camerae (chambers). Some older studies have used the term siphon for the siphuncle, though this naming convention is uncommon in modern studies to prevent confusion with a mollusc organ of the same name. Function The siphuncle is used primarily in emptying water from new chambers as the shell grows. To perform this task, the cephalopod increases the saltiness of the blood in the siphuncle, and the water moves from the more dilute chamber into the blood through osmosis. At the sam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ectenolites
''Ectenolites'' is a genus of small, slender, cylindrical Ellesmeroceratids that resemble '' Ellesmeroceras'' but are smaller and proportionally narrower. Septa, as typical for ellesmerocerids, are close spaced with shallow lobes on either flank. The body chamber is proportionally long, the shell itself slightly compressed. The dorsal side at the beginning of the shell, opposite the aperture and body chamber, is strongly convex so to produce a sense of endogastric curvature with the apex and siphuncle The siphuncle is a strand of tissue passing longitudinally through the shell of a cephalopod mollusk. Only cephalopods with chambered shells have siphuncles, such as the extinct ammonites and belemnites, and the living nautiluses, cuttlefish, and ... aligned.Flower R.H.1964, The Nautiloid Order Ellesmeroceratida (Cephalopoda). Memoir 12, New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources, Socorro, NM The siphuncle in ''Ectenolites'' lies along the ventral side; is tubular, composed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Treatise On Invertebrate Paleontology
The ''Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology'' (or ''TIP'') published by the Geological Society of America and the University of Kansas Press, is a definitive multi-authored work of some 50 volumes, written by more than 300 paleontologists, and covering every phylum, class, order, family, and genus of fossil and extant (still living) invertebrate animals. The prehistoric invertebrates are described as to their taxonomy, morphology, paleoecology, stratigraphic and paleogeographic range. However, taxa with no fossil record whatsoever have just a very brief listing. Publication of the decades-long ''Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology'' is a work-in-progress; and therefore it is not yet complete: For example, there is no volume yet published regarding the post-Paleozoic era caenogastropods (a molluscan group including the whelk and Common periwinkle, periwinkle). Furthermore, every so often, previously published volumes of the ''Treatise'' are revised. Evolution of the proje ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prehistoric Nautiloid Genera
Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of symbols, marks, and images appears very early among humans, but the earliest known writing systems appeared 5000 years ago. It took thousands of years for writing systems to be widely adopted, with writing spreading to almost all cultures by the 19th century. The end of prehistory therefore came at very different times in different places, and the term is less often used in discussing societies where prehistory ended relatively recently. In the early Bronze Age, Sumer in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley Civilisation, and ancient Egypt were the first civilizations to develop their own scripts and to keep historical records, with their neighbors following. Most other civilizations reached the end of prehistory during the following Iron Age. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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