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Vascoceratidae

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Vascoceratidae
Temporal range: U Cretaceous (l-m Turonian)
Fossil of Fagesia spheroidalis from Japan. Late Cretaceous. Exhibit in the National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo, Japan.
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Cephalopoda
Subclass: Ammonoidea
Order: Ammonitida
Superfamily: Acanthoceratoidea
Family: Vascoceratidae
Spath, 1925

The Vascoceratidae is a family of Upper Cretaceous ammonites in the superfamily Acanthoceratoidea characterized by shells that are either smooth or bluntly tuberculate, or have sparse, coarse ribs. Sutural elements are shallow, irregular, and slightly indented, or deep and very indented. Whorl section and degree of involution vary, even within species.

The Vascoceratidae is a short lived family restricted to the early and middle Turonian stage. Its duration, no more than a few million years. They are derived from the Acanthoceratidae and are the predecessors of the Tissotiidae, which in turn gave rise to the Coilopoceratidae; all taking place in a short time span in the Turonian.