Proteoceratidae is an extinct

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

of actively mobile aquatic

carnivorous A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant whose food and energy requirements derive from animal tissues (mainly muscle, fat and other sof ...

cephalopod A cephalopod is any member of the molluscan class Cephalopoda (Greek plural , ; "head-feet") such as a squid, octopus, cuttlefish, or nautilus. These exclusively marine animals are characterized by bilateral body symmetry, a prominent head ...

s belonging to the subclass

Orthoceratoidea Orthoceratoidea is a major subclass of nautiloid cephalopods. Members of this subclass usually have orthoconic (straight) to slightly cyrtoconic (curved) shells, and central to subcentral siphuncles which may bear internal deposits. Orthoceratoi ...

endemic to what would be

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

during the

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 ...

living from 490—445.6 Ma, existing for approximately .

Taxonomy

Proteoceratidae was named by Flower (1962). Its type is '' Proteoceras''. It was assigned to Michelinoceratida by Flower (1962); to Pseudorthocerataceae by Teichert et al. (1964), Sweet (1964) and Evans (1994); to

Pseudorthocerida Pseudorthocerida is an order of generally straight longiconic orthoceratoids with a subcentral to marginal cyrtochoanitic siphuncle composed of variably expanded segments which may contain internal deposits that may develop into a continuous p ...

by Kröger and Isakar (2006); and to

Orthocerida 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 ...

by Kröger et al. (2007). B. Kröger, M. S. Beresi, and E. Landing. 2007. Early orthoceratoid cephalopods from the Argentine Precordillera (Lower-Middle Ordovician). Journal of Paleontology 81(6):1266-1283

Genera

* '' Archigeisonoceras'' * '' Baykonuroceras'' * '' Cyrtactinoceras'' * '' Ephippiorthoceras'' * '' Euorthoceras'' * '' Gangshanoceras'' * '' Gorbyoceras'' * '' Isorthoceras'' * '' Liulinoceras'' * '' Mesnaquaceras'' * '' Metephippiorthoceras'' * '' Monomuchites'' * '' Orthonybyoceras'' * '' Paraproteoceras'' * '' Proteoceras'' * '' Pseudoliolinoceras'' * '' Stereospyroceras'' * '' Tofangoceras'' * '' Transorthoceras'' * '' Treptoceras'' * '' Ulmioceras''

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7251530 Orthocerida Ordovician cephalopods Ordovician cephalopods of Asia Ordovician cephalopods of Europe Ordovician cephalopods of North America Ordovician cephalopods of South America Middle Ordovician first appearances Early Cretaceous extinctions