Discosorida are an order of

cephalopod A cephalopod is any member of the molluscan class Cephalopoda (Greek plural , ; "head-feet") such as a squid, octopus, cuttlefish, or nautilus. These exclusively marine animals are characterized by bilateral body symmetry, a prominent head ...

s that lived from the beginning of the Middle Ordovician, through the

Silurian The Silurian ( ) is a geologic period and system spanning 24.6 million years from the end of the Ordovician Period, at million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Devonian Period, Mya. The Silurian is the shortest period of the Paleozo ...

, and into the

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the Silurian, million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, Mya. It is named after Devon, England, whe ...

. Discosorids are unique in the structure and formation of 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 ...

, the tube that runs through and connects the camerae (chambers) in cephalopods, which unlike those in other orders is zoned longitudinally along the segments rather than laterally. Siphuncle structure indicated that the Discosorida evolved directly from the

Plectronoceratida Plectronocerida is a primitive order from which subsequent cephalopod orders are ultimately derived.Curt Teichert, 1988. Main Features of Cephalopod Evolution. The Mollusca Vol. 12 Paleontology and Neontology of Cephalopds; Academic Pres Inc. Oc ...

rather than through the more developed Ellesmerocerida, as did the other orders. Finally and most diagnostic, discosorids developed a reinforcing, grommet-like structure in the septal opening of the siphuncle known as the bullette, formed by a thickening of the connecting ring as it draped around the folded back septal neck.

Evolution

The origin of the Discosorida is unknown, thought at one timeRousseau H. Flower. 1964. The Nautiloid Order Ellesmerocerida (Cephalopods); relevant pages. Memoir 12, New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources, Socorro, NM. to be directly from the

Plectronocerida Plectronocerida is a primitive order from which subsequent cephalopod orders are ultimately derived.Curt Teichert, 1988. Main Features of Cephalopod Evolution. The Mollusca Vol. 12 Paleontology and Neontology of Cephalopds; Academic Pres Inc. O ...

. Evolution within the order begins with the lower Middle Ordovician

Reudemannoceratidae The Reudemannoceratidae are the ancestral and most primitive of the Discosorida, an order of cephalopods from the early Paleozoic. The Reudemannoceratidae produced generally medium-sized endogastric and almost straight shells with the siphuncle s ...

and from there diverges into three main lineages.Rousseau H. Flower and Curt Teichert. 1957. The Cephalopod Order Discosorida; University of Kansas Paleontological Contributions, Mollusca, Article 6.Curt Teichert. 1964. Nautiloidea -Discosorida; Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Vol. K, pp. K320. Questionable discosorids have been reported as early as the Middle Tremadocian - near the start of the Ordovician, however the first ''bona fide'' examples date to the Middle Ordovician.Bjorn Kroger,Yun-Bai, Zhang. 2008. Pulsed cephalopod diversification during the Ordovician. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 273: 174. The diversification of the Discosorida, in terms of genera, peaked at the beginning in the Middle Ordovician (modern Darriwilian stage) followed by a decline in the Upper Ordovician (modern Sandbian and Katian stages) only to peak again in the Middle Silurian. Afterwards their diversity declined drastically and remained low until their end in the late Devonian. Some were endogastrically curved, with the lower, siphuncle side concave, others were exogastrically curved with the same side convex. In some, the aperture was a simple opening. In others, it became contracted into a pattern of slits. In earlier, Ordovician forms, the bullette became quite large and readily noticeable. In later forms, the bullette became reduced, in some to the point of being vestigial. The Discosoridae, one of the last families to evolve, found in Silurian and questionably in Devonian rocks, are characterized by a rapidly expanding siphuncle with segments that extend into the adjacent chambers, and parietal deposits within the siphuncle that overlap to form endocones.

Taxonomy

The Discosorida include these families, more or less in phylogenetic sequence beginning with the oldest: :

Cyrtogomphoceratidae The Cyrtogomphoceratidae are a family in the cephalopod order Discosorida that comprises genera commonly with compressed, endogastrically curved shells. Siphuncles lie close to the ventral side, segments are broadly inflated, connecting rings th ...

Westonoceratidae Westonoceratidae are exogastric, mostly compressed, Discosorida of moderate size from the Middle Ordovician to the Lower Silurian. The siphuncle is typically close to the convexly curved outer margin of the phragmocone – the chambered part o ...

Phragmoceratidae The Phragmoceratidae is a family of extinct nautiloid cephalopods from the Order Discosorida that lived during the latter part of the Silurian. Diagnosis Phragmoceratids are characterized by generally compressed, upwardly curved endogastric sh ...

Lowoceratidae The Lowoceratidae is a small family of discosorids, early nautiloid cephalopods, from the Middle Silurian in which the characteristic bullette is found only in early growth stages. Lowoceratids were first found in Southampton Island in the Ca ...

: Discosoridae :

Mandaloceratidae Mandaloceratidae is a family in the nautiloid cephalopod order Discosorida, from the Middle and Upper(?) Silurian characterized by short, essentially straight shells referred to as breviconic, typically with a faintly exogastric shape produced b ...

: Mesoceratidae These form three basin evolutionary lineages. The first, formed by the Reudemannoceratidae, Cyrtogomphoceratidae, and Phragmoceratidae, are fundamentally endogastric with the siphuncle near the inside or longitudinally concave curvature. The second, formed by the Westonoceratidae, Lowoceratidae, and Discosoridae, are fundamentally exogastric with the siphuncle near the outside or longitudinally convex curvature, although the Discosoridae are somewhat different. The third, consisting of the Mandaloceratidae and Mesoceratidae are basically straight (orthoconic). Families differ primarily in the structural details of the siphuncle and in the nature of the aperture.

Ecology

Discosorids were probably

benthic The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from ancient Greek, βένθος (bénthos), meaning "t ...

forms that crawled over the bottom in search of food or safety, or hovered close to the bottom. The general orientation during life was most likely head down, with the aperture of the shell facing the general direction of the sea floor and shell carried above. Nothing is known of what the animal itself may have looked like; how many tentacles they had and relative length or how well they may have seen.

Related taxa

In general form the Discosorida resembled the Oncocerida, which lived about the same time, but evolved from a completely different stock. The two convergent groups differ in their internal detail.

References

External links

Palaeos.org – Discosorida

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3709951 Cephalopod orders Middle Ordovician first appearances Devonian extinctions