''Allotrioceras'' is a tubular fossil from the

Middle Ordovician The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic 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 ...

of the state of

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, collected by Rousseau H. Flower; included by him in the

Endocerida Endocerida is an extinct nautiloid order, a group of cephalopods from the Lower Paleozoic with cone-like deposits in their siphuncle. Endocerida was a diverse group of cephalopods that lived from the Early Ordovician possibly to the Late Silu ...

and placed in a new family, the Allotrioceratidae. ''Allotrioceras'' is characterized by a lateral pair of subequal conical structures, resembling the endocones of endocerids, separated by a straight partition that extends more than half way across from either the dorsal or ventral side, as perceived, and runs along the length. What remains is thought to represent a

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 ...

, which ranges from about 8 millimeters (0.3 in) to about 15 millimeters (0.6 in) in diameter. On the basis of diagnosis, inclusion of ''Allotrioceras'' and the Allotrioceratidae, for which it is the type, in the endocerida seems at best tentative. Some endocerids, derived from the

Proterocameroceratidae The ''Proterocameroceratidae'' were the first of the Endocerida. They began early in the Ordovician with ''Proendoceras'' or similar genus which had developed endocones, replacing the diaphragms of the ellesmerocerid ancestor. Proterocamerocera ...

, ''

Najaceras ''Najaceras'' is a genus of straight, slender endocerid known only from the Whiterockian age Oil Creek Limestone of Oklahoma, introduced and named by Rousseau Flower in 1971 and further described by him in 1976. ''Najaceras'' is characterized ...

'', '' Cacheoceras'', and ''

Williamsoceras Williamsoceras is an endocerid that Rousseau Flower (1968) added to his Allotrioceratidae (Flower 1955) on the basis of having a vertical partition within the siphuncle, known as a ventral process, with inter-connecting tubule-like structure ...

'', have a longitudinal dorsal or ventral process, or both about which the endocones are formed, which the partitian of Allotrioceras somewhat resembles. In the Chihliocreratidae, also derived from the Proterocameroceratidae,{Rousseau H. Flower 1958. Some Chazyan and Mohawkian Endoceratida, Journal of Paleontology Vol32, no3 pp 433-458 the main endocones are flanked by two smaller endocones, one on each side, superficially resembling ''Allotrioceras''. The

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

of ''Allotrioceras'', ''Allotrioceras bifercatum'' Flower 1955, rests in the collection of the

New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science The New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science is a natural history and science museum in Albuquerque, New Mexico near Old Town Albuquerque. The Museum was founded in 1986. It operates as a public revenue facility of the New Mexico Departmen ...

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...

References

* Curt Teichert 1964, Encoceratoidea, K160—__ in Vol K

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 co ...

, Teichert C and Moore, R, C, eds, GSA and Univ Kansas Press. * Collections of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science,Albuquerque, NM. {{Taxonbar, from=Q4733224 Prehistoric nautiloid genera Ordovician molluscs Fossils of the United States Taxa named by Rousseau H. Flower