Riocerida
Riocerida
Main page

Riocerida

logo
Community Hub0 subscribers
What are your thoughts?
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Riocerida

Riocerida, originally named as Rioceratida, is an extinct order of Ordovician nautiloid cephalopods. They were the earliest-diverging members of the major group Orthoceratoidea, with which they share dorsomyarian muscle scars (a few large muscle scars concentrated at the top of the body chamber). However, they also possess several plesiomorphic ("primitive") traits which are absent in other orthoceratoids: Cameral and endosiphuncular deposits are absent, and the siphuncle has a marginal position along the lower edge of the shell. The conch (external shell) shape is slender, usually orthoconic (straight) or weakly cyrtoconic (slightly curved). The monophyly of Riocerida as a unique group is plausible but difficult to confirm, and they may instead be a paraphyletic grade or polyphyletic assemblage ancestral to all later orthoceratoids.

See all
User Avatar
No comments yet.