Endoceras

Endoceras, from Ancient Greek ἔνδον (éndon), meaning "inside", and κέρας (kéras), meaning "horn", is an extinct genus of large, straight-shelled cephalopods that gives its name to the Nautiloid order Endocerida. The genus lived during the middle and upper Ordovician 470 to 443 million years ago. The cross section in the mature portion is slightly wider than high, but is narrower laterally in the young. Sutures are straight and transverse. Endoceras has a large siphuncle, located close to the ventral margin, composed of concave segments, especially in the young but which may be tubular in the adult stage. Endocones are simple, subcircular in cross section, and penetrated by a narrow tube which may contain diaphragms reminiscent of the Ellesmerocerid ancestor.

A picture published with the record for Endoceras.

Ghedoghedo · 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
EndoceratidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Endocerida
Life habit
nektobenthicPBDB, for Endocerida
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Endocerida
Vision
well-developedPBDB, for Cephalopoda
Environment
marinePBDB, for Cephalopoda

Time the record covers

At least 38 million years on record.

The record covers at least 481.7 Mya to 443.1 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 486.85 Mya to 419.62 Mya.

Cambrian — about 0 of 222 occurrencesOrdovician — about 221 of 222 occurrencesOrdovicianSilurian — about 1 of 222 occurrencesSilurianDevonian — about 0 of 222 occurrences488–486 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences486–484 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences484–481 Mya — about 4 occurrences481–479 Mya — about 2 occurrences479–477 Mya — about 3 occurrences477–474 Mya — about 7 occurrences474–472 Mya — about 8 occurrences472–470 Mya — about 15 occurrences470–467 Mya — about 12 occurrences467–465 Mya — about 9 occurrences465–463 Mya — about 10 occurrences463–460 Mya — about 13 occurrences460–458 Mya — about 10 occurrences458–456 Mya — about 12 occurrences456–453 Mya — about 15 occurrences453–451 Mya — about 27 occurrences451–449 Mya — about 50 occurrences449–446 Mya — about 14 occurrences446–444 Mya — about 7 occurrences444–442 Mya — about 2 occurrences442–439 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences439–437 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences437–435 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences435–432 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences432–430 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences430–428 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences428–425 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences425–423 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences423–421 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences421–418 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences481.7 Mya443.1 Mya488 Mya418 Mya

222 occurrences of Endoceras on record, most of them in the Ordovician. 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

222 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

111 formations

Dubuque — 45.00°N, 93.00°WDubuque — 43.00°N, 91.00°WMaquoketa — 45.00°N, 93.00°WMaquoketa — 43.00°N, 92.00°WAmadjuak — 63.72°N, 68.97°WAmadjuak — 65.25°N, 73.17°WAmadjuak — 66.00°N, 69.83°WAmadjuak — 68.80°N, 81.24°WDenley Limestone — 43.21°N, 75.46°WDenley Limestone — 44.00°N, 75.00°WDenley Limestone — 43.28°N, 75.14°WScales Shale — 43.00°N, 91.00°WFillmore Limestone — 38.92°N, 113.36°WFillmore Limestone — 38.82°N, 113.44°WFillmore Limestone — 38.84°N, 113.46°WVerulam — 44.75°N, 79.33°WVerulam — 44.60°N, 78.97°WVerulam — 44.45°N, 78.70°WVerulam — 44.43°N, 78.78°WLoobu — 59.40°N, 24.56°ELoobu — 59.44°N, 27.31°ELoobu — 58.86°N, 24.08°ELoobu — 58.74°N, 24.08°EKanosh Shale — 38.85°N, 113.46°WKanosh Shale — 38.87°N, 113.42°WBadger Flat — 36.91°N, 118.06°WBønsnes — 66.77°N, 13.47°EBønsnes — 60.08°N, 10.22°EBønsnes — 60.00°N, 10.88°ESolvang — 60.00°N, 11.00°ESolvang — 59.83°N, 10.51°ESolvang — 59.85°N, 10.59°EFremont — 38.00°N, 105.00°WFremont — 38.50°N, 105.17°WGlenwood — 45.00°N, 93.00°WGlenwood — 43.00°N, 91.00°WDay Point — 44.60°N, 73.44°WDay Point — 44.68°N, 73.32°WShihtien — 24.77°N, 99.15°ELiberty — 39.00°N, 84.00°WLiberty — 38.20°N, 85.57°WSeby Limestone — 60.91°N, 15.02°ESeby Limestone — 62.97°N, 14.48°EArnestad — 60.00°N, 11.00°EArnestad — 60.08°N, 10.17°EVollen — 60.00°N, 11.00°EVollen — 59.90°N, 10.58°ESan Lorenzo — 21.00°S, 65.00°WObispo — 21.00°S, 65.00°WObispo — 20.00°S, 65.00°WPlatteville — 45.00°N, 93.00°WDecorah Shale — 45.00°N, 93.00°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Endoceras has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 87 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 21 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Endoceras and its relatives

Ordovician

Where Endoceras and its relatives were recorded in the Ordovician.

Found in the same rock

1,668 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 188 sites for Endoceras, and this reads all 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

62 references

Each of the 222 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. 50 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 Endoceras

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

3D model

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

This entry was cached before the site began recording what Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource did, so a search that failed cannot be told from one that found nothing.

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 itEndoceratidae through timeFormations of the OrdovicianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Hall 1847