Brevicoceratidae

Belongs within: Nautilosiphonata.

A morphologically very diverse family of oncocerid cephalopods that lived from the Middle Silurian to the Upper Devonian, the Brevicoceratidae included breviconic, gyroconic and torticonic forms. Sweet (1964) derived the family from the oncoceratid genus Oonoceras.

Characters (from Sweet 1964): Exogastric (rarely endogastric) brevicones, gyrocones and torticones, tending to develop irregular, vestigial actinosiphonate deposits and subtriangular transverse section.

<==Brevicoceratidae
    |--Aipetoceras lebedjanicum Zhuravleva 1972K93
    |--Brevicoceras Flower 1938S64
    |    `--*B. casteri Flower 1938S64
    |--Anglicornus Flower & Caster 1935S64
    |    `--*A. anneliesae Flower & Caster 1935S64
    |--Blastocerina Flower 1940 [incl. Blastoceras Flower & Caster 1935 non Fitzinger 1860]S64
    |    `--*B. cylindrostoma (Flower & Caster 1935) [=Blastoceras cylindrostomum]S64
    |--Eleusoceras Flower 1938S64
    |    `--*E. nicholsi Flower 1938S64
    |--Exocyrtoceras Flower 1938S64
    |    `--*E. exoticum Flower 1938S64
    |--Foersteoceras Ruedemann 1925S64
    |    `--*F. turbinatum (Hall 1852) [=Trochoceras turbinatum]S64
    |--Gonionaedyceras Flower 1945S64
    |    `--*G. pandion (Hall 1876) [=Trochoceras pandion]S64
    |--Gyronaedyceras Flower 1945S64
    |    `--*G. validum (Hall 1876) [=Gyroceras validum]S64
    |--Micronoceras Flower 1938S64
    |    `--*M. delphicolum Flower 1938S64
    |--Ovoceras Flower 1936S64
    |    `--*O. oviforme (Hall 1860) [=Gomphoceras (Apioceras) oviforme]S64
    |--Stereotoceras Flower 1950S64
    |    `--*S. oppletum Flower 1950S64
    |--Verticoceras Flower 1936S64
    |    `--*V. erectum Flower 1936S64
    |--Wissenbachia Foerste 1926S64
    |    `--*W. orthogaster (Sandberger & Sandberger 1852) [=Phragmoceras orthogaster]S64
    |--Xenoceras Flower 1952K93, S64
    |    `--*X. oncoceroides Flower 1952S64
    `--Aletoceras Flower 1938S64
         |--*A. gracile Flower 1938S64
         `--A. amphoroides Flower 1938P68

*Type species of generic name indicated

References

[K93] King, A. H. 1993. Mollusca: Cephalopoda (Nautiloidea). In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Fossil Record 2 pp. 169–188. Chapman & Hall: London.

[P68] Purnell, L. R. 1968. Catalog of the type specimens of invertebrate fossils. Part I: Paleozoic Cephalopoda. United States National Museum Bulletin 262: 1–198.

[S64] Sweet, W. C. 1964. Nautiloidea—Oncocerida. In: Moore, R. C. (ed.) Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology pt K. Mollusca 3. Cephalopoda—General Features—Endoceratoidea—Actinoceratoidea—Nautiloidea—Bactritoidea pp. K277–K319. The Geological Society of America and the University of Kansas Press.