The Clydonautiloidea are a superfamily within the nautiloid order Nautilida characterized by smooth, generally globular, shellsKummel 1964; Nautiloidea -Nautilida, Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part K Nautiliodea, Geological Society of America and University of Kansas press. with nearly straight sutures, in early forms, but developing highly differentiated sutures in some later forms. Where known, the

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 ...

tends to be central to subcentral. The Clydonautiloidea, name based on Hyatt's Clydonautilidae of 1900, are more or less the Liroceratina of Shimansky 1962.

Classification and taxonomy

The Clydonautiloidea, which began in the Late Devonian, combine five families, three of which are restricted to the Triassic. Principal and forming the root stock are the Late Devonian to Upper Triassic Liroceratidae, from which Shimankiy derived his suborder. Derived from the Liroceratidae in the Early Mississippian are this Mississippian to mid Permian Ephippioceratidae. The three Triassic families, derived from Triassic liroceratids, are the Clydonautilidae, Gonionautilidae, and Siberonautilidae, all with prominent lobes and saddles in the suture. The families are described as: The

Clydonautilidae The Clydonautilidae are Middle and Upper Triassic nautiloid cephalopods, which are derivatives of the clydonautiloidean family Liroceratidae, that have generally smooth, involute, globular to compressed shells, characterized by a suture with p ...

, named by Hyatt in 1900, were the first to be defined and provide the name for the superfamily. Clydonautilids are characterized by generally smooth, involute, globular to compressed shells with a very small to occluded (hidden) umbilicus and sutures with prominent lobes and saddles. Their range is from the mid to Upper Triassic. The

Liroceratidae Liroceratidae is an extinct family of nautilids, shelled marine molluscs, belonging to the Clydonautiloidea, consisting of generally smooth, involute, nautiliconic forms with a small umbilicus. The whorl section is usually depressed and broad ...

, named by Miller and Youngquist in 1949, are the ancestral family, which gave rise to the other four, and which has the longest duration, from the Upper Devonian to the Upper Triassic. The Liroceratidae are characterized by generally smooth shells with broadly rounded, depressed whorls, occluded umbilicus, slightly sinuous sutures, and a siphuncle that is usually more or less central. The

Ephippioceratidae Ephippioceratidae is a family of clydonatilacean nautilids with shells as in the Liroceratidae but with sutures that have deep ventral and dorsal saddles. This group, which contains two genera, ''Ephippioceras'' and ''Megaglossoceras'', has ...

, named by Miller and Youngquist in 1949, which have a range from the Lower Carboniferous (Miss) to the Lower Permian, are closely similar to the Liroceratidae, but have deep ventral and dorsal saddles in the suture. The

Gonionautilidae Gonionautilidae is a family in the nautilid superfamily Clydonautiliaceae that contains only the genus ''Gonionautilus'', known from the Upper Triassic (Norian) of Europe and North America. (Alps, state of Nevada) ''Gonionautilus'' has a smooth, ...

, named by Kummel in 1950 to contain the Upper Triassic genus '' Gonionautilus'', have a smooth, involute, compressed shell with narrow flattened venter and a suture like that of ''

Clydonautilus ''Clydonautilus'' is a genus of nautiloids and type for the Clydonautilidae that has been found in the Upper Triassic of Europe, India, and Timor. Its type is ''C. noricus''. ''Clydonautilus'' is the most derived of the Clydonautilitidae, evide ...

'', but with a more highly developed median saddle and double-pointed annular lobes. The

Siberionautilidae Siberionautilidae is a family in the nautilid superfamily Clydonautiloidea that contains only the genus ''Siberionautilus'', which comes from the Upper Triassic ( Carnian) of Siberia, Russia. The family, and genus, are characterized by an invol ...

, named by Popov in 1951 for the Upper Triassic '' Siberionautilus'', have an involute, finely ribbed, globular shell with flattened flanks that converge toward a rounded venter and a highly differentiated goniatitic suture.

Origin and extinction

The origin of the Clydonautiloidea (Liroceratidae) is unknown for sure, but is generally surmised as being from the Rutoceratidae, late in the Devonian. The Liroceratidae were the only clydonautilaceans living at the end of the Permian, when a significant number of nautilid genera perished, but enough survived to carry the family, and by inference the superfamily into the Triassic. Already reduced in number, although suddenly diverse, none of the Clydonautiloidea escaped the smaller extinction at the end of the Triassic.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q33187939 Prehistoric nautiloids Prehistoric animal superfamilies Late Devonian first appearances Late Devonian animals Late Triassic extinctions