''Hoploscaphites'' is an extinct

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) ...

genus from the

Upper Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', the ...

and the Lower

Paleocene The Paleocene, ( ) or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 mya (unit), million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), E ...

, included in the family Scaphitidae.

Morphology

It is considered by some to be a subgenus of '' Scaphites''. Like ''Scaphites'' the shell of ''Hoploscaphites'' is involute with the final whorl projecting forward and curved back on itself. Shells vary from compressed to inflated with convex sides. Tubercles normally present may be sparse or absent.

Distribution

Fossils of ''Hoploscaphites'' have been found in Antarctica, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada (Alberta, Saskatchewan), Chile, Denmark, France, Germany, Greenland, India, the Netherlands, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and the United States (Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Kansas, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, Wyoming).''Hoploscaphites''
at

Fossilworks Fossilworks is a portal which provides query, download, and analysis tools to facilitate access to the Paleobiology Database The Paleobiology Database is an online resource for information on the distribution and classification of fossil animals ...

.org Of the few genera of ammonites which are thought to have survived the K-Pg extinction event into the

Danian The Danian is the oldest age or lowest stage of the Paleocene Epoch or Series, of the Paleogene Period or System, and of the Cenozoic Era or Erathem. The beginning of the Danian (and the end of the preceding Maastrichtian) is at the Cretaceous� ...

period (65-61

Myr The abbreviation Myr, "million years", is a unit of a quantity of (i.e. ) years, or 31.556926 teraseconds. Usage Myr (million years) is in common use in fields such as Earth science and cosmology. Myr is also used with Mya (million years ago). ...

) of the Paleogene, ''Hoploscaphites'' is the most widely and reliably recorded, with finds in Denmark, the Netherlands and the United States, and a possible record in Turkmenistan.

Species

A number of species have been described in the genus: *''H. angmartussutensis'' Birkelund, 1965 *''H. birkelundae'' Landman & Waage, 1993 *''H. comprimus'' (Owen, 1852) *''H. constrictus'' (Sowerby, 1817) *''H. indicus'' (Forbes, 1846) *''H. landesi'' Riccardi, 1983 *''H. melloi'' Landman & Waage, 1993 *''H. nicolletii'' (Morton, 1842) *''H. pumilis'' Stephenson, 1941 *''H. quiriquinensis'' Wilckens, 1904 *''H. tenuistriatus'' (Kner, 1848) *''H. vistulensis'' Blaszkiewicz, 1980 *''H. youngi'' Larson, 2016

Morphology

Distribution

Species

References

Further reading