Tornoceras

Tornoceras is a strongly involute, subdiscoidal Middle and Upper Devonian goniatite with a suture that forms six to ten lobes. Tornoceras is an extinct genus of cephalopods that shares similarities with the modern pearly nautilus. This genus first appeared during the Devonian Period, which spanned from 416 million to 359 million years ago. The shell is circular and relatively flat, with the final whorl enveloping the previous ones. The sutures between the successive chambers of the shell exhibit a gently rippled pattern.

Tornoceras

James St. John · CC BY 2.0 · 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
TornoceratinaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Ammonoidea
Life habit
nektonicPBDB, for Goniatitida
Motility
fast-movingPBDB, for Ammonoidea
Vision
well-developedPBDB, for Cephalopoda
Environment
marinePBDB, for Cephalopoda

Time the record covers

At least 19 million years on record.

The record covers at least 387.95 Mya to 368.5 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 393.47 Mya to 358.86 Mya.

Devonian — about 196 of 196 occurrencesDevonianCarboniferous — about 0 of 196 occurrences394–393 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences393–392 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences392–391 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences391–389 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences389–388 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences388–387 Mya — about 6 occurrences387–386 Mya — about 8 occurrences386–385 Mya — about 8 occurrences385–383 Mya — about 8 occurrences383–382 Mya — about 13 occurrences382–381 Mya — about 13 occurrences381–380 Mya — about 13 occurrences380–379 Mya — about 13 occurrences379–377 Mya — about 12 occurrences377–376 Mya — about 12 occurrences376–375 Mya — about 12 occurrences375–374 Mya — about 15 occurrences374–373 Mya — about 15 occurrences373–371 Mya — about 10 occurrences371–370 Mya — about 7 occurrences370–369 Mya — about 7 occurrences369–368 Mya — about 6 occurrences368–367 Mya — about 4 occurrences367–365 Mya — about 4 occurrences365–364 Mya — about 2 occurrences364–363 Mya — about 1 occurrence363–362 Mya — about 1 occurrence362–361 Mya — about 1 occurrence361–359 Mya — about 1 occurrence359–358 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences387.95 Mya368.5 Mya394.2 Mya358.2 Mya

196 occurrences of Tornoceras on record, most of them in the Devonian. 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

196 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

31 formations

Virgin Hills — 18.00°S, 125.50°EVirgin Hills — 18.74°S, 126.08°EVirgin Hills — 18.63°S, 126.05°EDomanik — 63.55°N, 53.37°EDomanik — 63.53°N, 53.42°EDomanik — 63.54°N, 53.53°EDomanik — 63.51°N, 53.61°EDomanik — 63.34°N, 53.71°ELyaiol — 63.35°N, 53.78°ELyaiol — 63.35°N, 53.80°ELyaiol — 63.15°N, 53.80°ESkaneateles — 42.90°N, 76.47°WSkaneateles — 42.98°N, 76.34°WSkaneateles — 42.94°N, 76.25°WSkaneateles — 42.92°N, 76.21°WSkaneateles — 42.86°N, 76.14°WSkaneateles — 42.95°N, 76.43°WSkaneateles — 42.87°N, 77.88°WSkaneateles — 42.81°N, 76.81°WSand — 50.99°N, 7.16°ECashaqua — 42.82°N, 78.08°WCashaqua — 42.75°N, 77.72°WCashaqua — 42.78°N, 77.55°WCashaqua — 42.72°N, 77.50°WCashaqua — 42.77°N, 77.40°WCashaqua — 42.73°N, 77.33°WCashaqua — 42.63°N, 77.37°WCashaqua — 42.72°N, 77.88°WUst-Yarega — 63.49°N, 53.45°EUst-Yarega — 63.54°N, 53.38°EMoscow — 42.70°N, 76.75°WMoscow — 42.77°N, 76.03°WMoscow — 42.81°N, 75.91°WMoscow — 42.66°N, 75.38°WMoscow — 42.75°N, 77.15°WGenundewa — 42.78°N, 77.88°WGenundewa — 42.77°N, 77.82°WGenundewa — 42.73°N, 77.33°WGenundewa — 42.90°N, 78.13°WGenundewa — 42.57°N, 77.08°WLudlowville — 42.80°N, 77.27°WLudlowville — 42.78°N, 76.99°WLudlowville — 42.85°N, 78.64°WLudlowville — 42.85°N, 78.37°WGogo — 18.50°S, 126.00°EGogo — 18.68°S, 126.04°EWest River Shale — 42.77°N, 77.88°WWest River Shale — 42.77°N, 77.82°WWest River Shale — 42.68°N, 77.27°WWest River Shale — 42.57°N, 77.15°WPenn Yan — 42.77°N, 77.82°WPenn Yan — 42.80°N, 77.50°WPenn Yan — 42.60°N, 77.07°WKnoppenbiessen — 50.97°N, 7.17°EThree Forks Shale — 45.93°N, 111.86°WThree Forks Shale — 45.91°N, 111.85°WThree Forks Shale — 45.89°N, 111.96°WSilica — 41.72°N, 83.72°WCoumiac — 43.43°N, 3.05°EOlentangy Shale — 39.97°N, 83.00°WRhinestreet — 42.80°N, 78.68°WRhinestreet — 42.73°N, 78.13°WNerpalakh — 75.56°N, 135.63°EPlattensandstein — 51.28°N, 7.18°ERongxian — 24.98°N, 109.98°ECardano — 42.97°N, 0.87°WMassenkalk — 51.18°N, 8.02°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Tornoceras has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 7 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 29 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Tornoceras and its relatives

Devonian

Where Tornoceras and its relatives were recorded in the Devonian.

Found in the same rock

579 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 174 sites for Tornoceras, 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

36 references

Each of the 196 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. 24 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 Tornoceras

Credit
James St. John
Licence
CC BY 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC0 Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

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 itTornoceratinae through timeFormations of the DevonianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Hyatt 1884)