''Huronia'' is an

actinocerid The Actinocerida are an order of generally straight, medium to large cephalopods that lived during the early and middle Paleozoic, distinguished by a siphuncle composed of expanded segments that extend into the adjacent chambers, in which deposit ...

genus included in the Huroniidae along with ''Discoactinoceras'' and ''Huroniella'',(Teichert 1964). ''Huronia'' is characterized by long siphuncle segments with the free part of the connecting rings only slightly inflated and by a narrow central canal and strongly curved radial canals located in the anterior part of each siphuncle segment

Ancestry

Teichert, (1964) indicated ''Huronia'' as being derived from the upper Middle

Ordovician The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years from the end of the Cambrian Period million years ago (Mya) to the start of the Silurian Period Mya. T ...

''Discoactinoceras'', whose ancestry lay in the direction of ''Polydesmia'', once considered the prototypical actinocerid. Flower, (1968) on the other hand, showed that ''Huronia'' is derived from '' Actinoceras'' and split off from '' Lambeoceras'' during Red River time, near the start of the Late Ordovician, precluding the inclusion of ''Discoactinoceras''

Distribution

''Huronia'' is known from the Upper Ordovician and Silurian of North America and Greenland. ''H. arctica'' and ''H occidentalis''(?) are associated with the Cape Calhoun fauna in Greenland.(Flower 1957) ''H paulodolata'' and ''H munuens'' come from the Middle Silurian of Michigan (Teichert 1964) ''H sepata'' is found in the Shamattawa limestone of Hudson Bay (Flower 1957)

References

* Flower R.H. 1957, Studies of the Actinocerida. Memoir 2, New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources, Socorro NM. * Flower R.H. 1968, The First Great Expansion of the Actinocerids. Part I Memoir 19, New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources, Socorro NM. * Teichert, C. 1964, Actinoceroidea (K190) in 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 ...

, vol K, Nautiloidea. Curt Teichert and R.C. Moore Eds. University of Kansas Press and the GSA. {{Taxonbar, from=Q5946981 Actinocerida Late Ordovician first appearances Silurian extinctions Paleozoic life of Manitoba Paleozoic life of Nunavut