Gonioceras

Gonioceras is an extinct genus of actinocerid nautiloidean cephalopods typified by a broad, low shell; flattened ventrally, convexly rounded dorsally; top and bottom meeting at an acute angle along the sides. In most the shell is rather thin, especially along the lateral portion. The aperture is contracted. Sutures from broad ventral and dorsal lobes, more narrowly rounded ventro-lateral and dorso-lateral saddles, and sharp pointed lateral lobes; more complex than in later Lambeoceras. The siphuncle is typically subcentral but may be closer to the venter; armenocerid in form with short segments and very short brims and containing a straight endosiphuncular canal system.

Gonioceras

via iDigBio · CC0 · via iDigBio. 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
GonioceratidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Actinocerida
Life habit
nektobenthicPBDB, for Actinocerida
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Actinocerida
Vision
well-developedPBDB, for Cephalopoda
Environment
marinePBDB, for Cephalopoda

Time the record covers

At least 7.2 million years on record.

The record covers at least 458.2 Mya to 451 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 471.3 Mya to 449.5 Mya.

Ordovician — about 70 of 70 occurrencesOrdovician472–471 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences471–470 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences470–470 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences470–469 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences469–468 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences468–467 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences467–466 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences466–466 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences466–465 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences465–464 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences464–463 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences463–463 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences463–462 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences462–461 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences461–460 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences460–460 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences460–459 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences459–458 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences458–457 Mya — about 2 occurrences457–457 Mya — about 6 occurrences457–456 Mya — about 6 occurrences456–455 Mya — about 6 occurrences455–454 Mya — about 6 occurrences454–454 Mya — about 6 occurrences454–453 Mya — about 5 occurrences453–452 Mya — about 5 occurrences452–451 Mya — about 5 occurrences451–451 Mya — about 5 occurrences451–450 Mya — about 6 occurrences450–449 Mya — about 1 occurrence458.2 Mya451 Mya471.8 Mya449 Mya

70 occurrences of Gonioceras 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

70 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

24 formations

Cliffield — 37.13°N, 81.41°WCliffield — 37.00°N, 81.00°WCliffield — 37.08°N, 81.55°WCliffield — 37.17°N, 81.48°WCliffield — 37.08°N, 81.71°WCliffield — 37.06°N, 81.76°WCliffield — 37.10°N, 81.56°WCliffield — 37.02°N, 81.63°WLourdes — 48.73°N, 58.82°WLourdes — 48.80°N, 58.78°WLourdes — 48.72°N, 58.90°WCrown Point — 44.87°N, 73.45°WCrown Point — 44.62°N, 73.42°WCrown Point — 44.17°N, 73.25°WPlatteville — 45.00°N, 93.00°WGrand Detour — 43.00°N, 91.00°WNachusa — 43.00°N, 91.00°WQuimbys Mill — 43.00°N, 91.00°WValcour — 44.87°N, 73.41°WValcour — 44.62°N, 73.42°WValcour — 44.17°N, 73.25°WChaumont — 43.97°N, 75.91°WChaumont — 44.05°N, 76.02°WMurfreesboro Limestone — 35.50°N, 86.50°WRidley Limestone — 35.50°N, 86.50°WSt. Peter Sandstone — 45.00°N, 93.00°WGlenwood — 45.00°N, 93.00°WDecorah Shale — 45.00°N, 93.00°WPecatonica — 43.00°N, 91.00°WMifflin — 43.00°N, 91.00°WGuttenberg — 43.00°N, 91.00°WIon — 43.00°N, 91.00°WBobcaygeon — 44.53°N, 78.55°WBad Cache Rapids — 69.46°N, 82.86°WAmadjuak — 68.80°N, 81.24°WCape Discovery — 82.95°N, 78.67°WTetradium limestone — 74.45°N, 18.97°EPamelia — 44.09°N, 75.96°W

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The named rock units Gonioceras has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 10 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Gonioceras and its relatives

Ordovician

Where Gonioceras and its relatives were recorded in the Ordovician.

Found in the same rock

323 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 60 sites for Gonioceras, 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

13 references

Each of the 70 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. 1 further reference is 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 content1

Picture of Gonioceras

Source
iDigBio
Credit
via iDigBio
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

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 itGonioceratidae through timeFormations of the OrdovicianThe world it lived on

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