Ammonitina comprises a diverse suborder of

ammonite Ammonoids are a group of extinct marine mollusc animals in the subclass Ammonoidea of the class Cephalopoda. These molluscs, commonly referred to as ammonites, are more closely related to living coleoids (i.e., octopuses, squid and cuttlefish) ...

cephalopods that lived during the

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...

and

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...

periods of the

Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles, the Age of Conifers, and colloquially as the Age of the Dinosaurs is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceo ...

Era. They are excellent

index fossils Biostratigraphy is the branch of stratigraphy which focuses on correlating and assigning relative ages of rock strata by using the fossil assemblages contained within them.Hine, Robert. “Biostratigraphy.” ''Oxford Reference: Dictionary of Bi ...

, and it is often possible to link the rock layer in which they are found to specific geological time periods. The shells of Ammonitina are typically planospiral; coiled in a plane, symmetrical side to side. Shells vary in form, including those that are evolute, such that all whorls are exposed, and those that are strongly involute with only the outer whorl showing. They may be strongly ribbed, some bearing nodes and spines; others are entirely smooth. Some have broad rounded venters (the outer rim); in others the venter is sharp and keel-like. Sutures are generally ammonitic, with intricately patterned saddle and lobes. However, in some derived forms the suture becomes simplified, ceratitic, even goniatitic. The Ammonitina are derived from the Phylloceratina, another ammonitid suborder which has its origin in the

Ceratitida Ceratitida is an order that contains almost all ammonoid cephalopod genera from the Triassic as well as ancestral forms from the Upper Permian, the exception being the phylloceratids which gave rise to the great diversity of post Triassic ammoni ...

of the

Triassic The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest period ...

. As with the subclass, the closest living relatives of the Ammonitina are the

Coleoidea Subclass (biology), Subclass Coleoidea, or Dibranchiata, is the grouping of cephalopods containing all the various taxa popularly thought of as "soft-bodied" or "shell-less" (i.e., octopuses, squid and cuttlefish). Unlike its extant sister group, ...

(

octopus An octopus ( : octopuses or octopodes, see below for variants) is a soft-bodied, eight- limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttle ...

squid True squid are molluscs with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight arms, and two tentacles in the superorder Decapodiformes, though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also called squid despite not strictly fitting t ...

, and

cuttlefish Cuttlefish or cuttles are marine molluscs of the order Sepiida. They belong to the class Cephalopoda which also includes squid, octopuses, and nautiluses. Cuttlefish have a unique internal shell, the cuttlebone, which is used for control of ...

) and not the superficially similar modern ''

Nautilus The nautilus (, ) is a pelagic marine mollusc of the cephalopod family Nautilidae. The nautilus is the sole extant family of the superfamily Nautilaceae and of its smaller but near equal suborder, Nautilina. It comprises six living species in t ...

''. Lower Jurassic superfamlies include the

Psiloceratoidea Psiloceratoidea is a superfamily of Early Jurassic ammonoid cephalopods proposed by Hyatt in 1867, assigned to the order Ammonitida. They were very successful during Hettangian and Sinemurian. Last of them, family Cymbitidae and genera '' Hypox ...

, Eoceroceratoidea, and

Hildoceratoidea Hildoceratoidea, formerly Hildoceratacaea, is a superfamily of compressed or planulate ammonites, some tending to develop acute outer rims; generally with arcuate or sigmoidal ribs. Aptichus were found in place are double-valved.Arkell ''et al.' ...

, which is in part Middle Jurassic. Superfamilies from the Middle and Upper Jurassic include the Stephanoceratoidea, Perisphinctoidea, and Haploceratoidea; the Perisphinctoidea and Haploceratoidea continued well into the Cretaceous. Exclusively Cretaceous superfamilies include the Desmoceratacea,

Hoplitoidea Hoplitoidea, formerly Hoplitaceae, is a superfamily of mostly Upper Cretaceous ammonites comprising families united by a similar suture pattern with multiple similar elements that tend to decrease in size going toward the umbi ...

, and the

Acanthoceratoidea Acanthoceratoidea, formerly Acanthocerataceae, is a superfamily of Upper Cretaceous ammonoid cephalopods belonging to the order Ammonitida, and comprising some 10 or so families.W.J Arkell ''et al''., Mesozoic Ammonoidea; Treatise on Invertebrate ...

. The

Eoderoceratoidea Eoderoceratoidea is a superfamily of true ammonites (suborder Ammonitina) from the Lower Jurassic, comprising seven phylogenetically related families, characterized in general by having ribbed evolute shells that commonly bear spines or tubercle ...

of the Lower Jurassic gave rise in the middle of the epoch to the Hilderceratidae, which in turn gave rise early in the Middle Jurassic to the

Stephanoceratoidea Stephanoceratoidea, formerly Stephanocerataceae, is a superfamily of middle- upper Jurassic ammonoid cephalopods within the order Ammonitida containing diverse forms, generally with sharp ribbing and complex suture lines. Aptychi are believed t ...

, Perisphinctoidea, and Haploceratoidea. The Psiloceratoidea from the Lower Jurassic stands alone. The Cretaceous Desmoceratoidea are derived from the Phylloceratina separately from Jurassic forms and give rise to the Hoplitoidea and to the Acanthoceratoidea.

References

* Ammonitida suborders Prehistoric animal suborders Mollusc suborders Jurassic first appearances Late Cretaceous extinctions {{ammonitida-stub