Orthoceratidae

Orthoceratidae, from Ancient Greek ὀρθός (orthós), meaning "straight", and κέρας (kéras), meaning "horn", 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, existing for approximately 286.4 million years.

Orthoceratidae

Nobu Tamura ( http://spinops.blogspot.com ) · CC BY 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
OrthoceridaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Orthocerida
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Orthocerida
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Orthocerida
Vision
well-developedPBDB, for Cephalopoda
Environment
marinePBDB, for Orthocerida

Time the record covers

At least 254 million years on record.

The record covers at least 481.7 Mya to 227.3 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 483.4 Mya to 205.7 Mya.

Cambrian — about 0 of 1118 occurrencesOrdovician — about 476 of 1118 occurrencesOrdovicianSilurian — about 246 of 1118 occurrencesDevonian — about 241 of 1118 occurrencesDevonianCarboniferous — about 55 of 1118 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 50 of 1118 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 11 of 1118 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 15 of 1118 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 25 of 1118 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 0 of 1118 occurrences489–479 Mya — about 2 occurrences479–470 Mya — about 17 occurrences470–460 Mya — about 81 occurrences460–450 Mya — about 292 occurrences450–441 Mya — about 90 occurrences441–431 Mya — about 59 occurrences431–422 Mya — about 149 occurrences422–412 Mya — about 70 occurrences412–402 Mya — about 40 occurrences402–393 Mya — about 28 occurrences393–383 Mya — about 97 occurrences383–373 Mya — about 18 occurrences373–364 Mya — about 7 occurrences364–354 Mya — about 14 occurrences354–345 Mya — about 5 occurrences345–335 Mya — about 14 occurrences335–325 Mya — about 12 occurrences325–316 Mya — about 12 occurrences316–306 Mya — about 3 occurrences306–296 Mya — about 7 occurrences296–287 Mya — about 4 occurrences287–277 Mya — about 3 occurrences277–268 Mya — about 3 occurrences268–258 Mya — about 25 occurrences258–248 Mya — about 20 occurrences248–239 Mya — about 18 occurrences239–229 Mya — about 16 occurrences229–219 Mya — about 5 occurrences219–210 Mya — about 3 occurrences210–200 Mya — about 1 occurrence481.7 Mya227.3 Mya489 Mya200 Mya

1,118 occurrences of Orthoceratidae on record, most of them in the Ordovician. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

1,118 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

329 formations

Baota — 33.00°N, 111.00°EBaota — 29.00°N, 109.00°EBaota — 28.00°N, 107.00°EBaota — 29.00°N, 107.00°EBaota — 32.00°N, 105.00°EBaota — 27.00°N, 107.00°EBaota — 28.00°N, 109.00°EBaota — 32.00°N, 108.00°EBaota — 28.00°N, 105.00°EBaota — 32.00°N, 106.00°EBaota — 29.00°N, 110.00°EBaota — 29.00°N, 111.00°EBaota — 30.00°N, 111.00°EBaota — 31.00°N, 111.00°EBaota — 27.00°N, 101.00°EBaota — 32.00°N, 118.00°EBaota — 31.00°N, 117.00°EBaota — 30.00°N, 116.00°EBaota — 33.00°N, 106.00°EBaota — 33.00°N, 108.00°EBaota — 32.00°N, 119.00°EBaota — 32.00°N, 100.00°EOverton — 52.48°N, 2.63°WFluminimaggiore — 39.43°N, 8.50°EFluminimaggiore — 39.32°N, 8.53°EFluminimaggiore — 39.50°N, 8.50°EFluminimaggiore — 39.32°N, 8.65°ESkaneateles — 42.80°N, 76.69°WSkaneateles — 42.90°N, 76.47°WSkaneateles — 42.95°N, 76.43°WSkaneateles — 42.94°N, 76.25°WSkaneateles — 42.93°N, 75.99°WSkaneateles — 42.86°N, 76.15°WSkaneateles — 42.86°N, 76.14°WSkaneateles — 42.86°N, 75.89°WSkaneateles — 42.97°N, 76.44°WSkaneateles — 42.98°N, 76.34°WSkaneateles — 42.87°N, 75.56°WSkaneateles — 42.85°N, 75.58°WSkaneateles — 42.87°N, 77.88°WSkaneateles — 42.81°N, 76.81°WDunleith — 43.00°N, 91.00°WGeneseo — 42.67°N, 75.59°WGeneseo — 42.65°N, 75.44°WGeneseo — 42.62°N, 75.41°WGeneseo — 42.53°N, 74.93°WGeneseo — 42.50°N, 74.78°WGeneseo — 42.63°N, 75.46°WGeneseo — 42.56°N, 75.34°WGeneseo — 42.51°N, 74.68°WGydo — 33.30°S, 21.83°EGydo — 33.52°S, 24.74°EGydo — 33.33°S, 19.37°EGydo — 33.31°S, 22.43°EGydo — 34.01°S, 23.46°EMoscow — 42.70°N, 76.75°WMoscow — 42.77°N, 76.03°WMoscow — 42.68°N, 75.57°WMoscow — 42.68°N, 75.46°WMoscow — 42.54°N, 74.87°WMoscow — 42.60°N, 74.60°WLuning — 38.87°N, 117.62°WGuniutan — 33.00°N, 111.00°EGuniutan — 29.00°N, 110.00°EGuniutan — 30.00°N, 111.00°EGuniutan — 31.00°N, 111.00°EGuniutan — 30.00°N, 117.00°EGuniutan — 32.00°N, 119.00°ELudlowville — 42.96°N, 78.13°WLudlowville — 42.83°N, 77.84°WLudlowville — 42.80°N, 77.27°WLudlowville — 42.78°N, 76.99°WLudlowville — 42.85°N, 78.64°WLudlowville — 42.85°N, 78.37°WLudlowville — 43.00°N, 79.00°WWitten Limestone — 37.20°N, 81.36°WWitten Limestone — 37.11°N, 81.52°WWitten Limestone — 37.02°N, 81.63°WWitten Limestone — 37.00°N, 81.00°WWitten Limestone — 37.03°N, 81.79°WWitten Limestone — 37.10°N, 81.62°WRacine — 42.73°N, 87.78°WRacine — 42.88°N, 88.04°WRacine — 43.05°N, 88.01°WPozary — 50.08°N, 14.47°EPozary — 49.93°N, 14.18°EPozary — 49.93°N, 14.13°EPozary — 50.03°N, 14.32°EPozary — 49.15°N, 13.57°EChedao — 37.00°N, 107.00°EChedao — 36.00°N, 107.00°EKandle — 59.42°N, 24.75°EKandle — 59.35°N, 23.91°EKandle — 59.40°N, 27.76°EKandle — 59.44°N, 27.36°EKandle — 59.48°N, 25.02°EVäo — 59.42°N, 24.75°EVäo — 59.36°N, 23.96°EVäo — 59.39°N, 27.08°EVäo — 59.29°N, 23.39°EVäo — 59.44°N, 24.95°EVäo — 59.51°N, 25.96°EKahula — 59.36°N, 27.42°EKahula — 59.35°N, 26.38°EKahula — 59.27°N, 27.00°EKahula — 59.38°N, 26.40°EKahula — 59.23°N, 23.52°EKahula — 59.41°N, 26.48°EKahula — 59.27°N, 23.75°EYanwashan — 29.00°N, 115.00°EYanwashan — 28.00°N, 118.00°EYanwashan — 29.00°N, 119.00°EVasalemma — 59.24°N, 24.29°EVasalemma — 59.23°N, 24.23°EShihtien — 25.00°N, 99.06°EShihtien — 24.77°N, 99.15°EThree Forks Shale — 45.92°N, 111.55°WCwm Rhiwarth — 53.00°N, 3.00°WLouisiana Limestone — 39.79°N, 91.52°WLouisiana Limestone — 39.45°N, 91.05°WLouisiana Limestone — 39.49°N, 91.32°WLouisiana Limestone — 39.34°N, 91.19°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Orthoceratidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 305 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 246 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Orthoceratidae and its relatives

Ordovician

Where Orthoceratidae and its relatives were recorded in the Ordovician.

Found in the same rock

2,045 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 843 sites for Orthoceratidae, and this reads 240 of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

281 references

Each of the 1,118 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 269 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Orthoceratidae

Credit
Nobu Tamura ( http://spinops.blogspot.com )
Licence
CC BY 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Orthoceratidae was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itOrthocerida through timeFormations of the OrdovicianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. M'Coy 1844