''Argonauticeras'' is an extinct

ammonoid 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) ...

cephalopod genus that lived during the latter part of the Early

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 ...

, included in the

Lytoceratida Lytoceratina is a suborder of Jurassic and Cretaceous ammonites that produced loosely coiled, evolute and gyroconic shells in which the sutural element are said to have complex moss-like endings. Morphologic characteristics Shells are generally ...

and found in lower and possibly middle

Aptian The Aptian is an age in the geologic timescale or a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is a subdivision of the Early or Lower Cretaceous Epoch or Series and encompasses the time from 121.4 ± 1.0 Ma to 113.0 ± 1.0 Ma (million years ago), a ...

marine sediments. It has been thought of as a subgenus of ''

Ammonoceratites ''Ammonoceratites'' is an extinct genus of ammonoid cephalopod known from the Albian (upper Lower Cretaceous) of British Columbia, Madagascar, New Zealand, and Japan, included in the Lytoceratidae. The shell of ''Ammonoceratites'' is evolute, sm ...

''. ''Argonauticeras'' produced an evolute shell with a trapezoidal whorl section, slightly impressed inner rim (or dorsum), a somewhat flattened outer rim (venter) and broadly arched sides, covered with fine, weakly crinkled ribs.

References

*W.J Arkell ''et al.'', 1957. Systematic Descriptions, Mesozoic Ammonoidea,

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 ...

Part L Ammonoidea. Cretaceous ammonites Fossils of Japan Fossils of Madagascar Aptian life Ammonitida genera Lytoceratidae {{ammonitida-stub