Levisoceras
| Levisoceras Temporal range:
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| artist's restoration of L. edwardsi | |
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| Phylum: | Mollusca
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| Class: | |
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| Genus: | Levisoceras Flower, 1964
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Levisoceras is a genus of early Ordovician ellesmerocerid cephalopods.[1] [2]
Morphology[]
Levisoceras is a distinctive ellesmeroceratid that combines rapid expansion a strong endogastric curvature. The cross section is compressed with the height increasing more rapidly than the width. The siphuncle is ventral and expands much as the shell itself.[1] In one specimen[2] the height was found to be around four centimetres and the width 2.5 cm. The septa are approximately flat.
Taxonomic Relations[]
Some 14 or so species have been named. Those more gently expanding approach Dakeoceras in form. There is also an apparent transition between Levisoceras and Burenoceras.[1]
Ecology[]
Levisoceras was carnivorous and lived on, and swum above, the sea floor.[3]
References[]
- ^ a b c Flower, R.H. 1964. The Nasutiloid Order Ellesmerocerida (Cephalopoda); Memoir 12, New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources, Socorro N.M.
- ^ a b Kröger, B. R. (2007). "Some Lesser Known Features of the Ancient Cephalopod Order Ellesmerocerida (Nautiloidea, Cephalopoda)". Palaeontology. 50 (3): 565–572. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4983.2007.00644.x.
- ^ "The Paleobiology Database: Levisoceras". Archived from the original on 2011-07-18.
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- Prehistoric nautiloid genera
- Ordovician cephalopods
- Ordovician cephalopods of North America
- Ellesmerocerida
- Prehistoric nautiloid stubs