The Orthocerataceae is a superfamily of

orthocerid Orthocerida is an order of extinct Orthoceratoid cephalopods also known as the Michelinocerida that lived from the Early Ordovician () possibly to the Late Triassic (). A fossil found in the Caucasus suggests they may even have survived until ...

cephalopods that lived from the late Early

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

to the Early

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...

,Sweet, W. C. 1964. Nautiloidea- Orthocerida;

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 K, Teichert et al (eds) pp K224–K242Doguzhaeva, Larisa. (1994) An Early Cretaceous orthocerid cephalopod from north-western Caucasus.; Palaeontology 37(4) : 889–899 but is no longer in general use. The Orthocerataceae is one of two superfamilies in the Orthocerida presented in the Treatise, the other being the Pseudorthocerataceae. With the recognition of orthocerids and pseuorthocerids as separate orders, the two superfamilies became unnecessary taxa with the Orthoceraceacea and Pseudorthocerataceae left as historical references. As originally conceived the Orthocerataceae unites families characterized by straight or slightly curved, smooth or ornamented shells, generally with a circular cross section and tubular, centrally positioned siphuncles; given an overall range from the Lower Ordovician to the Upper Triassic. Eleven families were included, among which are the

Orthoceratidae Orthoceratidae is an extinct family of actively mobile carnivorous cephalopods, subclass Nautiloidea, that lived in what would be North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia from the Ordovician through Triassic from 490—203.7 mya, e ...

Troedssonellidae Troedssonellidae is a family of orthoceroid cephalopods from the Ordovician, derived from rod-bearing Baltoceratidae, that have a continuous lining within the siphuncle that resembles very thin and slender endocones. Shells are generally slend ...

, Dawsonoceratidae, and

Paraphragmitidae Paraphragmitidae is an extinct family of actively mobile aquatic carnivorous cephalopods belonging to the subclass Orthoceratoidea endemic to what would be Asia and Europe during the Silurian living from 436 to 418.7 mya, existing for appro ...

. With the discovery of '' Zhuralevia'' from the Lower Cretaceous of the Caucasus by Doguzhaeva (pub 1994) the range of this group was effectively well advanced to at least late Aptian.

''References''

* Flower, R. H. 1976. Ordovician Cephalopod Faunas and Their Role in Correlation; The Ordovician System; Paleontological Association symposium 1974 * Kroger, B. 2008. A new genus of middle Tremadocian orthoceratoids and the Early Ordovician origin of orthoceratoid cephalopods Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 53 (4): 745–749, 2008 Orthocerida Prehistoric animal superfamilies Ordovician first appearances Cretaceous extinctions {{paleo-cephalopod-stub