''Neocomites'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

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) ...

from the Lower Cretaceous,

Berriasian In the geological timescale, the Berriasian is an age/stage of the Early/Lower Cretaceous. It is the oldest subdivision in the entire Cretaceous. It has been taken to span the time between 145.0 ± 4.0 Ma and 139.8 ± 3.0 Ma (million years ago) ...

Hauterivian The Hauterivian is, in the geologic timescale, an age in the Early Cretaceous Epoch or a stage in the Lower Cretaceous Series. It spans the time between 132.9 ± 2 Ma and 129.4 ± 1.5 Ma (million years ago). The Hauterivian is preceded by the Va ...

, and

type genus In biological taxonomy, the type genus is the genus which defines a biological family and the root of the family name. Zoological nomenclature According to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, "The name-bearing type of a nominal f ...

for the

Neocomitidae Neocomitidae is a family of Lower Cretaceous ammonitids comprising genera with strongly ribbed evolute (all whorls exposed) to smooth, fairly involute (inner whorls mostly hidden) shells. In the 1957 description of the family Neocomitidae was r ...

. with and (1996), ''Mollusca 4 Revised , Cretaceous Ammonoidea'', vol. 4, in ''Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology'', Part L (Roger L. Kaesler et el. eds.), Boulder, Colorado: The Geological Society of America & Lawrence, Kansas: University of Kansas Press, p. 60.

Description

The shell of ''Neocomites'' is fairly involute and compressed with flattish sides; covered with flexeous ribs that branch in small sheaves from faint umbilical tubercles, in some branching again or intercaled further out on the whorls, ending in small oblique bullae in either side of a smooth flat venter. Ribs may cross the venter transversely on later whorls. Sutures have deep 1st lateral lobes.

Distribution

''Neocomites'' has a fairly widespread distribution and has been found in such places as central and southern Europe, North Africa, Madagascar, northern India, Borneo, Sumatra, Texas, Mexico, Colombia (

Macanal Formation The Macanal Formation or Macanal Shale ( es, (Formación) Lutitas de Macanal, Kilm, K1m) is a fossiliferous geological formation of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense and Tenza Valley in the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The predominantly orga ...

Eastern Ranges The Eastern Ranges is an Australian rules football team in the NAB League, the Victorian statewide under-18s competition. The club is a founding member of the competition (1992) and has produced several players for the Australian Football Leagu ...

),Piraquive et al., 2011, p.204 Peru, and Argentina.

References

Bibliography

* W.J. Arkell, et al., 1957. Mesozoic Ammonoidea,

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 ...

Part L, Ammonoidea. *

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q598542 Ammonitida genera Perisphinctoidea Cretaceous ammonites Ammonites of Africa Ammonites of Asia Ammonites of Europe Ammonites of North America Cretaceous Mexico Fossils of Mexico Ammonites of South America Cretaceous Argentina Fossils of Argentina Cretaceous Colombia Fossils of Colombia Cretaceous Peru Fossils of Peru Fossil taxa described in 1905