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Information about Lituites

Lituites
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A specimen of Lituites littuus from the Hunan Province of China

A specimen of Lituites littuus from the Hunan Province of China
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Mollusca
Class:Cephalopoda
Subclass:Nautiloidea
Order:Barrandeocerida
Family:Lituitidae
Genus:Lituites
Species


all extinct


Lituites is an extinct genus of the nautiloids, and is one of the most primitive known cephalopods. It originated in the Ordovician period, around 460 million years ago. Fossils are mainly found in the region of Hunan, China, but they have also been found in Northern Europe. The genus Lituites includes some of the first cephalopods that could actively swim.

Lituites had early chambers rolled into plane spiral, like ammonites. The shell whorls may or may not have joined but were never closely in contact with one another on dorsal side. After the juvenile stage, where the shell begins in a coil, the adult animal would then grow a long, straight or slightly curved section. The shells are distinctive among cephalopod fossils by having this long section and a small ammonite-like coil on the end, looking rather like a traditional shepherd’s crook in form.

In adults, the animal's body chamber would occupy the whole of the uncoiled part of the shell. This living chamber is characterized by a slit-shaped mouth opening that broadens into a spout. The principal species are Lituites breynius, L. littuus, L. undatus, L. convolvans, and L. angulatus.

The name also appears in the adjective "lituiticone", which means "coiled in the early stage and later uncoiled."

See also

湖南省
Húnán Shěng
Abbreviations: ?  (Pinyin: Xiāng)

Origin of name 湖 hú - lake
南 nán - south
"south of Lake Dongting"
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Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. Scientific classification also can be called scientific taxonomy, but should be distinguished from folk taxonomy, which lacks scientific basis.
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Mollusca
Linnaeus, 1758

Classes

Caudofoveata
Aplacophora
Polyplacophora
Monoplacophora
Bivalvia
Scaphopoda
Gastropoda
Cephalopoda
† Rostroconchia
† Helcionelloida
† ?Bellerophontida
The molluscs
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Cephalopoda
Cuvier, 1797

Orders

Subclass Nautiloidea
  • †Plectronocerida
  • †Ellesmerocerida
  • †Actinocerida
  • †Pseudorthocerida
  • †Endocerida
  • †Tarphycerida
  • †Oncocerida

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Nautiloidea
Agassiz, 1847

Orders

Palcephalopoda
  • †Plectronocerida
  • †Ellesmerocerida
  • †Actinocerida
  • †Pseudorthocerida
  • †Endocerida
  • †Tarphycerida
  • †Oncocerida

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species is one of the basic units of biological classification. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring.
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genus (plural: genera) is part of the Latinized name for an organism. It is a name which reflects the classification of the organism by grouping it with other closely similar organisms.
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Nautiloidea
Agassiz, 1847

Orders

Palcephalopoda
  • †Plectronocerida
  • †Ellesmerocerida
  • †Actinocerida
  • †Pseudorthocerida
  • †Endocerida
  • †Tarphycerida
  • †Oncocerida

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Cephalopoda
Cuvier, 1797

Orders

Subclass Nautiloidea
  • †Plectronocerida
  • †Ellesmerocerida
  • †Actinocerida
  • †Pseudorthocerida
  • †Endocerida
  • †Tarphycerida
  • †Oncocerida

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The Ordovician period is the second of the six (seven in North America) periods[1] of the Paleozoic era, and covers the time roughly between 490 to 440 million years ago. It follows the Cambrian period and is followed by the Silurian period.
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For other uses of the term, see Fossil (disambiguation)


FOSSIL is a standard for allowing serial communication for telecommunications programs under the DOS operating system.
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Europe is one of the seven traditional continents of the Earth. Physically and geologically, Europe is the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, west of Asia. Europe is bounded to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the Mediterranean Sea,
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Baculites

Species

all extinct

Baculites ("walking stick rock") is a genus of extinct marine animals in the phylum Mollusca and class Cephalopoda.
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Orthoceras
Bruguière, 1789

Species: O. regulare

Binomial name
Orthoceras regulare
(Schlotheim, 1820)

Orthoceras
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