Desmoceras

Desmoceras is a genus of ammonites belonging to the family Desmoceratidae. These cephalopods were fast-moving nektonic carnivores. They lived in the Early Cretaceous; Albian epoch.

Desmoceras

Hectonichus · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
DesmoceratinaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Ammonoidea
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Ammonoidea
Motility
fast-movingPBDB, for Ammonoidea
Vision
well-developedPBDB, for Cephalopoda
Environment
marinePBDB, for Cephalopoda

Time the record covers

At least 42 million years on record.

The record covers at least 125.77 Mya to 83.6 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 143.1 Mya to 72.2 Mya.

Late Jurassic — about 0 of 320 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 206 of 320 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 114 of 320 occurrencesLate Cretaceous145–142 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences142–140 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences140–137 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences137–135 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences135–132 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences132–130 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences130–127 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences127–125 Mya — about 8 occurrences125–122 Mya — about 20 occurrences122–120 Mya — about 8 occurrences120–117 Mya — about 1 occurrence117–115 Mya — about 1 occurrence115–113 Mya — about 9 occurrences113–110 Mya — about 31 occurrences110–108 Mya — about 22 occurrences108–105 Mya — about 30 occurrences105–103 Mya — about 39 occurrences103–100 Mya — about 39 occurrences100–98 Mya — about 41 occurrences98–95 Mya — about 41 occurrences95–93 Mya — about 25 occurrences93–90 Mya — about 1 occurrence90–88 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences88–86 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences86–83 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences83–81 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences81–78 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences78–76 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences76–73 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences73–71 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences125.77 Mya83.6 Mya145 Mya71 Mya

320 occurrences of Desmoceras on record, most of them in the Early Cretaceous. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

320 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

56 formations

Haida — 53.25°N, 132.00°WHaida — 53.22°N, 132.04°WHaida — 54.05°N, 133.07°WHaida — 54.05°N, 133.10°WHaida — 53.05°N, 131.78°WBudden Canyon — 40.45°N, 122.56°WBudden Canyon — 40.43°N, 122.60°WGrès verts helvétiques — 45.99°N, 6.71°EGrès verts helvétiques — 46.10°N, 6.82°EGrès verts helvétiques — 45.90°N, 6.34°EGrès verts helvétiques — 46.01°N, 6.35°EGrès verts helvétiques — 45.98°N, 6.78°EGrès verts helvétiques — 46.03°N, 6.62°EGrès verts helvétiques — 46.05°N, 6.52°EHikagenosawa — 44.00°N, 143.00°EHilo — 3.67°N, 74.89°WMatanuska — 61.89°N, 146.86°WMatanuska — 61.51°N, 147.44°WMatanuska — 61.80°N, 147.58°WMatanuska — 61.85°N, 147.42°WMatanuska — 61.80°N, 147.70°WOdukpani — 4.57°N, 6.98°EOdukpani — 5.20°N, 8.27°EOdukpani — 5.13°N, 8.35°EKarai — 11.13°N, 79.00°EPerte-du-Rhone — 45.15°N, 5.48°ESchrambach — 47.91°N, 14.35°EWhisky Bay — 64.17°S, 57.75°WWhisky Bay — 64.07°S, 58.42°WSarcheshmah — 37.72°N, 56.32°ESarcheshmah — 37.78°N, 56.33°EConglomérats de Bargy — 45.86°N, 6.45°EConglomérats de Bargy — 45.97°N, 6.44°EConglomérats de Bargy — 46.02°N, 6.46°EConglomérats de Bargy — 45.97°N, 6.32°EMzinene — 27.87°S, 32.32°EInca — 7.01°S, 78.13°WInca — 7.16°S, 78.46°WInca — 7.44°S, 78.40°WPanoche — 37.21°N, 121.23°WPanoche — 36.13°N, 120.53°WAntelope — 39.43°N, 122.32°WMarnes bleues — 44.33°N, 5.17°EMaiolica — 43.59°N, 12.54°EMaiolica — 45.75°N, 9.48°EEnokuchi — 32.32°N, 130.35°ECatumbela — 12.45°S, 13.57°ECatumbela — 12.93°S, 13.07°ETata Limestone — 47.65°N, 18.31°EHudspeth — 44.60°N, 120.17°WPerte du Rhône — 46.83°N, 6.52°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Desmoceras has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 32 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 91 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Desmoceras and its relatives

Early Cretaceous

Where Desmoceras and its relatives were recorded in the Early Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

1,051 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 271 sites for Desmoceras, and this reads 240 of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

92 references

Each of the 320 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 80 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Desmoceras

Credit
Hectonichus
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itDesmoceratinae through timeFormations of the Early CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Zittel 1884