''Megaloceras'' is a genus of the
nautiloid
Nautiloids are a group of marine cephalopods ( Mollusca) which originated in the Late Cambrian and are represented today by the living ''Nautilus'' and ''Allonautilus''. Fossil nautiloids are diverse and speciose, with over 2,500 recorded species ...
order
Oncocerida
The Oncocerida comprise a diverse group of generally small nautiloid cephalopods known from the Middle Ordovician to the Mississippian (early Carboniferous; one possible member is known from the Early Permian), in which the connecting rings are t ...
that lived during 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 ...
period of the Paleozoic. It is included in the family Karoceratidae, characterized by compressed straight or exogastricly curved shells with slender ventral
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 ...
s.
References
''Megaloceras''Paleobiology Database 7/9/12
Sepkoski's list of Cephalopods* Walter C. Sweet, 1964. Nautiloidea-Oncocerida. Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part K. Geological Society of America and University of Kansas Press.
Prehistoric nautiloid genera
Silurian cephalopods
{{paleo-nautiloid-stub