Ceratitoidea, formerly Ceratitaceae, is an

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) ...

superfamily in order

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 ...

characterized in general by highly ornamented or tuberculate shells with ceratitic sutures that may become goniatitic or ammonitic in some offshoots. (Arkell ''et al.'' 1962)

Phylo-taxonomy

The Ceratitoidea, according to the ''

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 ...

'' (fig. 149, L104) can be divided into the Lower Triassic Hellenitidae, Dinaritidae, Tirolitidae, and Stephanitidae; the essentially lower Middle Triassic

Acrochordiceratidae ''Acrochordiceras'' is a genus of Middle Triassic Ammonoidea, ammonoid cephalopods belonging to the Ceratitida, ceratitid family Acrochordiceratidae, included in the superfamily Ceratitoidea. The shell of ''Acrochordiceras'', as with the family, ...

, Beyrichitidae, and Proteusitidae; and the lower Middle and post lower Middle Triassic

Ceratitidae ''Ceratitidae'' is an extinct family of ammonite cephalopods. Fossils of ''Ceratitidae'' are found in the Triassic marine strata throughout the world, including Asia, Europe, the Middle East, North America, and Oceania. Selected genera Subfam ...

and its descendant families. Families descendent from the Ceratidae are the

Aplococeratidae Aplococeratidae is a family of ceratitids from the Middle Triassic with very simplified sutures and a tendency to lose their ornamentation. Shells are generally evolute, more or less compressed, with rounded venters. Ornamentation if present con ...

and possibly or coeval, the Balatonitidae, Danubitidae, and Hungaritidae, and from the Hungaritidae, the Carnitidae. Of these the Balatonitidae and Danubitidae are restricted to the

Anisian In the geologic timescale, the Anisian is the lower stage or earliest age of the Middle Triassic series or epoch and lasted from million years ago until million years ago. The Anisian Age succeeds the Olenekian Age (part of the Lower Triassic Ep ...

(lower Middle Triassic); the Ceratitidae and Hungaritidae to the

and most of the Lidinian (upper Middle Triassic); the Carnitidae from the lower Lidinian through most of the

Carnian The Carnian (less commonly, Karnian) is the lowermost stage of the Upper Triassic Series (or earliest age of the Late Triassic Epoch). It lasted from 237 to 227 million years ago (Ma). The Carnian is preceded by the Ladinian and is followed by t ...

(lower Upper Triassic); the Aplococeratidae from the lower Lidinian though most of the

Norian The Norian is a division of the Triassic Period. It has the rank of an age (geochronology) or stage (chronostratigraphy). It lasted from ~227 to million years ago. It was preceded by the Carnian and succeeded by the Rhaetian. Stratigraphic defi ...

(mid Upper Triassic). Tozer, 1981, defined the Ceratitoidea as containing the Ceratitidae, Acrochordiceratidae, Balatonitidae, and Hungaritidae, as included in the Treatise with the Sibiritidae added from the Noritaceae and the since defined Keyserlingitidae and Rimkinitidae. The Danubitidae and Aplococeratidae are combined in the

Danubitaceae The Danubitoidea is a large and diverse superfamily in the order Ceratitida of the Ammonoidea that combines five families removed from the Ceratitaceae, Clydonitaceae, and Ptychitaceae Ptychitoidea, formerly Ptychitacheae, is a superfamily of ...

; the Lower Triassic Stephanitidae is reassigned to the Noritaceae, the Dinaritidae, Tirolitidae, and Hellenitidae (replaced by the Columbitidae) combined in the Dinaritaceae. The Anisian Beyrichitidae is reduced to a subfamily the Ceratitidae. The Proteusitidae, also Anisian, is reassigned to the Nathorstitaceae.

Derivation and outcome

The Ceratitoidea are derived from the Permo-Scythian (Lower Trias) Xenodisciaceae (also known as the Otocerataceae), through the Dieneroceratidae, which has its origin in the upper Paleozoic prolecanitid Daraelitidae. The Ceratitoidea is also the source for the Arpaditidae and

Trachyceratidae The Trachyceratidae is an extinct family of ceratitid ammonoid cephalopods. The Trachyceratidae makes up part of the superfamily Trachyceratoidea along with such families as the Buchitidae, Distichitidae, Dronovitidae and Noridiscitidae. ...

, ancestral families for the

Clydonitaceae Clydonitoidea, formerly Clydonitaceae, is a superfamily in the ammonoid cephalopod order Ceratitida characterized by generally costate and turberculate shells with smooth, grooved, or keeled venters and sutures that are commonly ceratitic or ammo ...

(= Trachyceratitaceae sensu Kümmel 1952).

References

*Arkell ''et al.'',1962. Mesozoic Ammonoidea. Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part L, Ammonoidea. R.C. Moore (ed) *Kümmel, B. 1952. A Classification of the Triassic Ammonoids. Journal of Paleontology, V.26, N.5, pp847–853, Sept. 1952. *Tozer, 1981, i
Paleobiology Database
Ceratitida superfamilies Middle Triassic first appearances Late Triassic extinctions {{Ceratitida-stub